VietNamNet Bridge – New anti-dumping tariffs imposed by the US Department of Commerce (DOC) for catfish imports from Vietnam are being described as “unreasonable, but bearable” for Vietnamese seafood exporters.
To everyone's surprise, DOC has unexpectedly announced a lowering of anti-dumping duties on Vietnam catfish exports to the US market. The decision was made after the ninth-period administration review (POR9).
The anti-dumping duties to be imposed on the two compulsory defendants – Vinh Hoan JSC and Hung Vuong JSC – are $0.03 per kilo and $1.20 per kilo, respectively. The rate to be applied to other enterprises, excluding compulsory and voluntary defendants, is $2.11 per kilo.
In an exclusive case, Can Tho-based Golden Quality, which is in its first year of exporting products to the US, is enjoying a tax rate of zero.
As such, Vinh Hoan JSC will see its tax rate decline by $0.13 and $1.95 per kilo. The voluntary defendants will bear a tax rate of $0.42 instead of $0.99 per kilo.
According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the DOC still chose Indonesia as the reference country when calculating the anti-dumping tariff rates on Vietnamese products, despite strong opposition from Vietnamese catfish exporters.
Though the rate reductions are not satisfactory enough for Vietnamese exporters, VASEP said the new tariffs won’t be too difficult for them. The association affirmed that the US will continue to be a key market for Vietnam.
A recent VASEP report reveals that Vietnam exported $275 million worth of catfish products in the first two months of 2014, an increase of 8.5 percent over the same period last year. Vietnam earned $61.7 million from the exports to the US, up by 30 percent.
The sharp increase in exports in the first two months of the year was explained by the fact that Vietnamese companies tried to export as much as possible, before the US DOC announced the new anti-dumping tariffs.
Total catfish export value is expected to reach $360-400 million in the first quarter of this year.
Duong Ngoc Minh, Deputy Chair of VASEP, said on Mot The Gioi newswire on March 31 that, in fact, the anti-dumping tax rates to be announced by DOC, either low or high, would not have a major effect on Vietnam’s catfish exports in the immediate future.
He said there were no concerns that Vietnamese seafood companies would have fewer orders due to the high tax rates. Catfish materials are seriously lacking in the Vietnamese market, which has pushed prices up. Exporters now have to struggle to find enough material to fulfill their existing contracts.
“Even if high tax rates were imposed, only the defendant companies would suffer,” he said.
Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon has quoted its sources as saying that catfish was traded at VND26,000 per kilo on March 31, or VND2,000 per kilo higher than in mid-March. As such, exporters need to sell finished products at $2.70 per kilo to avoid taking a loss.
According to Nguyen Ngoc Hai, Chair of the Fisheries Cooperative in An Giang province, the catfish supply shortage is becoming even more acute. Many farmers have given up catfish farming after incurring losses.
K. Chi
US imposes unfair, but bearable, anti-dumping tax on VN’s catfish Related image(s)
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