March 16, 2009

The US Department of Commerce have abolished anti-dumping tariffs on exports from two more Vietnamese catfish exporters, said the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP).

The DOC's final administrative review of anti-dumping taxes levied on Vietnamese frozen catfish fillets have cleared the South Vietnam Fishery Ltd. Co. (South Vina) and the Binh An Fishery Joint Stock Company (Bianfishco) of dumping catfish products on the US market and would subsequently enjoy a zero-percent tax rate from now on.

Three other Vietnamese exporters, namely the Dong Thap QVD Foodstuff Ltd. Co., the An Giang Fisheries Import-Export Joint-Stock Company and the Viet An Joint Stock Company, are to enjoy a tax rate of just 0.52 percent.

The common tax rate levied on the remaining Vietnamese exporters is 63.88 percent.

All of these tax rates will take effect following the publication of the US Federal Register.

Anti-dumping taxes on frozen Vietnam tra and basa catfish fillets were issued by the DOC in August 2003 and have been periodically reconsidered since then.

The taxes made that 40 percent of the region's catfish breeding ponds now lie abandoned, with An Giang province alone accounting for 60 percent of this total, according to the Seafood Association of Mekong Delta provinces.

The reason for this is the heavy losses suffered by fish farms in 2008. It is estimated that 25 percent of fish farmers in the region have gone bankrupt as a result.

The region's catfish output is expected to fall by up to 40 percent this year, having a huge impact upon the nations' catfish processing industry.