Bandula alleges fraud in pepper re-exports

• Says questionable Certificates of Origin issued by Ministry of Commerce
• Asks Govt. to assign Commerce Ministry under Ministry of Strategic Development and International Trade to solve issue
• Primary Industries Minister Gamage says Govt. already banned import and re-export of pepper
  
   

By Ashwin Hemmathagama, Our Lobby Correspondent

UPFA MP Bandula Gunawardena asked the Government to consider assigning the Ministry of Commerce under the Ministry of Strategic Development and International Trade in order to eliminate the re-export of substandard Vietnamese pepper under the Ceylon pepper brand.   

MP Bandula Gunawardena

Joining the Committee Stage Program of the Budget 2019, Gunawardena alleged that the Ministry of Commerce had issued questionable Certificates of Origin for pepper re-exports. 

“The Certificate of Origin is issued by the Ministry of Commerce, which comes under the Ministry of Industries. This is the place the fraud takes place. Ideally, the Ministry of Commerce should come under the Ministry of Strategic Development and International Trade. If you want to solve the issue, please assign the Ministry of Commerce to the Ministry of Strategic Development and International Trade,” he said.

In response, Minister of Primary Industries and Social Empowerment Daya Gamage said the Government has already banned import and re-export of pepper in order to stop substandard Vietnamese produce being sent out as Ceylon pepper and also to stop the loss of revenue.

“Ceylon pepper has a higher peppering content compared to Vietnam-grown pepper. But we cater to only 5% of the world pepper market demand whereas Vietnam caters to 60%. Pepper is no longer used by the food industry. 60% of our pepper exports are made to India in gunny bags without any value additions,” said Minister Gamage.

He added that his Ministry has no authority to stop pepper imports and exports. “All I can concentrate on is increasing the pepper cultivation. Already the Government has banned pepper imports to Sri Lanka, especially from Vietnam. Cabinet appointed a special committee and the re-export was completely stopped. We have taken care to increase value addition for Ceylon pepper,” he added.