September 16, 2010

Vietnam complains to US on tra fish anti-dumping tariff hikes

Vietnam authorities and seafood exporters are disputing an initial decision of the US Department of Commerce (DOC) on raising anti-dumping tariffs on tra fish, the state reported September 15.

Vietnamese tra fish has not been dumped in the US market, said Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, on September 14. Hoe said Vietnamese tra fish exporters will face numerous difficulties in exporting to the US if the DOC does not change its decision in the final result scheduled to be announced on late this month.

Under the DOC's preliminary decision of the sixth administrative review on anti-dumping tariffs on tra fish imported from Vietnam from August 1, 2008 to July 31, 2009, Vietnamese exporters will have to pay high taxes ranging from 0% to more than 130%.

Such big exporters as Vinh Hoan, Agifish, Bien Dong, South Vina will likely be subject to the 130% tax, while the tax for others will be 63%.

The general secretary said that the DOC's comparison between Vietnam, which produces one million tonnes of tra fish yearly, and the Philippines with an annual output of 12 tonnes, is unacceptable.

The US lawyer for Vietnamese exporters on the issue, Andrew B. Schroth, said that Vietnamese firms should demonstrate that the DOC's selection of third-country market Philippines instead of Bangladesh as a benchmark for determining the anti-dumping margins for Vietnamese tra fish, resulting in the increase in the tariffs, is wrong.

Vietnamese firms have six months to escape from the bad situation, by proving that they did not dump tra fish in the US. The tariffs are scheduled to be imposed from March 1, 2011.

He added that he US Catfish Association put pressure on the DOC's decision, so Vietnamese firms should seek for cooperation from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Vietnam Embassy to deal with the situation.

Vietnam exported US$134 million worth of tra fish to the US in 2009. The export revenues grew to nearly US$80 million between January-August of 2010.