April 30, 2007

Vietnam to settle shrimp lawsuit with US shrimp traders

Shrimp exporters in Vietnam are trying to amicably reach an agreement with the US Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) on the annual administration review over anti-dumping tax rates, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) official.

The VASEP official, who requests anonymity, said the settlement is an attempt to delay the annual administration review and a gradual "escape" from the lawsuit. The official also added the anti-dumping taxes would remain unchanged if the rates were low, while the enterprises imposed with high tax rates would accept the review.

However, the settlement is deemed to take time as other anti-dumping lawsuit from six countries, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, Ecuador, and India, and several hundred companies are also on the line.

Under US law, as of October 2007, the Byrd Amendment, under which the SSA has raised the lawsuit to get a big sum of money to protect the local shrimp aquaculture from imported shrimp, will no longer be valid. Therefore, SSA will not receive money any more. In the last few years, the alliance has already received more than US$100 million.

As it is, the SSA wants to maintain the annual administration review with the shrimp exporters from six countries in an attempt to raise anti-dumping tax rates. According to some exporters, the annual review obviously takes exporters much time and money. Last year, several Vietnamese shrimp exporters have reached an agreement with SSA on exemption from last year's administration review (in return, the exporters had to pay SSA a sum of money). However, the agreement was just valid for one year.

According to Seafood.com, SSA reached an agreement with the American Seafood Distributors Association (ASDA) recently wherein shrimp importers are imposed anti-dumping taxes and agree to pay money directly to the local shrimp aquaculture. In return, SSA will end the anti-dumping lawsuit and other legal procedures.

Analysts said that the exchange would benefit the entire US shrimp industry.

Last year, the WTO said that the "zeroing" method applied by the US to calculate anti-dumping tax levels was reasonable. The conclusion would encourage importers to appeal against unfavourable judgments.