Harvesting cinnamon. The inventory in the raw material area is about 100 tonnes of cinnamon due to difficulties in export. —VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Prime Minister has requested the Ministry of Health to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and relevant agencies to urgently review and amend the existing regulations on exporting medicinal herbs.

The Prime Minister also asked them to complete the new regulations before April 25, 2024 to remove current difficulties and create favourable conditions for the production and business activities for the medicinal herbs.

Those are main contents of Official Telegram 35/CĐ-TTg on removing difficulties for pharmaceutical export activities, signed by Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on April 10 to send to the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance.

The official telegram stated that recently, the export of some medicinal herbs has faced difficulties, affecting the production and business activities of many enterprises.

Besides the difficult market and falling prices, there are also problems in implementing some regulations of the Ministry of Health.

In addition, the Việt Nam Pepper and Spice Association (VPSA) has requested the Government to address problems in regulations for cinnamon essential oil export.

The association said the inventory in the raw material area is about 100 tonnes of cinnamon because businesses have faced the problems in implementing regulations on management and export of cinnamon essential oil. Meanwhile, there will be about 400 more tonnes of essential oils by the end of cinnamon season in March-April 2024.

VSPA also said in the future, Việt Nam will develop deep processing of essential oil products for other Vietnamese spices, while there is a high demand for essential oils, especially cinnamon essential oils, in the global market.

The management agencies need to have support for the export of those products, especially the export of value-added products and products helping reduce carbon emissions.

The association and localities have proposed that export declaration of cinnamon essential oil is carried out as export of food products, not medicinal materials.

If businesses export natural cinnamon essential oil as a raw material for food and beverages, they must comply with the provisions of Decree 15/2018/NĐ-CP detailing the implementation of some articles at the Food Safety Law. — VNS