Authorities and seafood exporters are protesting against a preliminary decision of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) on increasing anti-dumping tariffs on Vietnamese tra fish, state media reported Sept 15.
Vietnamese tra fish has not been dumped in the U.S. market, Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, insisted at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on Sept 14.
Hoe said Vietnamese tra fish exporters will face numerous difficulties in exporting to the U.S. 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 Aug 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 tons of tra fish yearly, and the Philippines with an annual output of 12 tons, is unacceptable.
The U.S. 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 U.S.
The tariffs are scheduled to be imposed from Mar 1, 2011.
He added that he U.S. 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 U.S. in 2009.
Between Jan and Aug of 2010, the export revenues grew to nearly US$80 million. (Liberated Saigon)
Vietnamese
