Customs Services: “There Is No Licencing For The Export Of Food Products Made From Subsidised Materials”

The General Directorate of Customs denied the accusations that were made by a group of members of the National Assembly on the license to export foodstuffs that are made from subsidized materials, confirming that according to the request of the intervention of a group of members of the National Assembly on the immediate ban of authorized export of subsidized food products that are largely consumed through the southern centers, Customs Administration confirms that the current government has not provided a license to export these goods.

The Customs Department said in a statement, which copy is available to Echorouk, that according to the law and the instructions of the supreme authorities in the country, the General Directorate will control all types of smuggling in order to protect the national economy, while the National Association of Algerian Exporters considered that the freezing of licenses for export is a dangerous violation that would stand as a stumbling block in the way of Algerian exporters who resort to the southern crossing for export to Mali, Niger and the rest of the African countries, asserting that the method that is currently adopted relies on opening the border crossing in the south of Algeria every 15 days, not within the framework of export, but in order to barter, with the exit of 300 trucks that are loaded with goods that are produced in Algeria and return while being loaded with other goods.

Chairman of the National Association of Algerian Exporters, Ali Bai Nasri, told Echorouk that the cross-border export license should be signed by the prime minister personally, a process that has been stalled for some time.

“There is no justification for freezing export licenses across the south. Instead, the smugglers must face tightened procedures. 300 tons of food, including food products, including pastries that are exported every week across the southern border, according to active agents in the field, and not according to official figures, which calls for sounding the alarm about smuggling.”

“The barter process includes only the materials that are listed in the Official Gazette, while the export process will continue only in respect of cement, which benefits from the export licenses by a special dealer in the state of Adrar (southern Algeria) under the name of Hamel factory, and the “Silas plant” which is owned by Souakri in the city of Biskra (southern Algeria), within the framework of procedures to facilitate export to the African market. The rest of the foodstuffs are exported by hundreds of tons on a daily basis across the border in a smuggling way. Instead, the smugglers must be besieged”.

According to Nasri, in 2009, the Food Pastry Branch was pumping $ 19 million into the state treasury in 2009, as an out-of-gas export. However, the obstacles that are facing exports in this division reduced the figure to $ 6 million.

“There are no legal articles that prevent the export of goods that are produced from the subsidized materials, like pastries food, what is important is that the owner does not benefit from subsidized wheat. Procedures must change and authorities should act in a more secure way to achieve economic profitability.”