Higher Competitiveness of Exports, More Anti-dumping Lawsuits

 

However, the increasing number of such anti-dumping lawsuits will seriously affect export growth plans and competitiveness Vietnamese enterprise in the international agenda. Besides, the remedies will create bad impacts on social issues such as jobs and income for labourers.

 

The number of anti-dumping surveys for Vietnam’s export items has sharply increased in recent years. Vietnam faced only one or two cases per year from1994-2001, but three case in 2003, seven in 2004 and three in 2005, involving many products such as bicycle parts, stainless steel door latches and pins, fluorescent lamps, shrimp, rubber tyres and inner tubes of motorbikes and bicycles among others. Among 18 finished trade remedies, Vietnam won only six cases.   

 

From the real situations of these anti-dumping lawsuits over the past three years, especially the EU’s lawsuit against Vietnam’s shoes with leather uppers in July 2005, Egypt’s lawsuit against fluorescent lamps in December 2005, and Argentina’s lawsuit against bicycle and motorbike spokes, the newly-established Competitiveness Management Department under Trade Ministry analyses: “In the beginning pf the period, Vietnam’s exports that were imposed with anti-dumping taxes were not strategic exports and had low export value, such as seasoning, lighters, and garlic, and therefore, did not create a big impact on the country’s export plan. This is attributed to the fact that Vietnamese enterprises have not paid special attention to the dumping issue.” 

 

According to the Competitiveness Management Department, the anti-dumping lawsuits on catfish (tra and basa) in 2002, on shrimps in 2003 and on shoes with leather uppers in 2005 showed that Vietnam’s key exports have been taken into consideration by rivals that produce the same products in some foreign markets.

The EU’s anti-dumping case on Vietnamese shoes is a serious lawsuit because footwear is one of Vietnam’s key exports in a major export market of Vietnam, remarked the department. According to Ms. Dinh Thi My Loan, Head of the Trade Ministry's Department of Competition Control, the EC’s announcement on temporary taxes, 4.2 per cent from July 2006 to 16.8 per cent from September 2006, will result in negative impacts on Vietnam’s social and economic development in general and its leather and footwear industry in particular that is regarded as one of Vietnam’s major foreign currency earners attracting more than 500,000 labourers.

 

The trade remedies are the first severe hardships Vietnam has faced since the beginning of opening up its economy but they have also brought valuable experience for the whole business community and associations of products in general as well as specific management agencies in particularly. Together with strengthening international integration and speeding up production of export items, more trade remedies, including anti-dumping lawsuits, will certainly appear, they may even come from fellow trading countries, not only from developed countries, stressed the department.

 

No.	Year	Products	Prosecutor	Results
1	1994	Rice	Colombia	No anti-dumping tax was levied, dumping at 9.07% but no damage for rice cultivation in Columbia
2	1998	Seasoning	EU	Anti-dumping tax of 16.8%
3	1998	Footwear	EU	No anti-dumping tax because added market share was small compared to China, Indonesia and Thailand
4	2000	Gas lighters	Poland	Anti-dumping tax at 0.09 euro/unit
5	2001	Garlic	Canada	Anti-dumping tax at 1.48 dollar Canada/kg
6	2002	Shoes and non-absorbent soles	Canada	No anti-dumping tax because soles imported from Vietnam did not harm Canada’s shoe industry
7	2002	Lighters	Korea	The lawsuit was suspended because Korea’s industrial sector withdraw its complaint
8	2002	Lighters	EU	The lawsuit was suspended because Korea’s industrial sector withdraw its complaint
9	2002	Tra and basa fishes (catfish)	US	Anti-dumping tax of around 36.84-63.88%
10	2003	Oxyde zinc	EU	Anti-dumping tax of 93%
11	2003	Ring binders	EU	Ring binders categorised 17–23 were levied about 325 euro for every thousand binders, an increase of 78.8% in the tax
12	2003	Shrimps	US	Anti-dumping tax of around 4.3-25.76%
13	2004	Bicycle and motorbike tyres and inner tubes	Turkey	Anti-dumping taxes of 30% for 2.25-17 inch motorbike tyres; 44% for 2.25-17 inch motorbike inner tubes; 29% for bicycle tyres; and 49% for bicycle inner tubes
14	2004	Bicycles	EU	Anti-dumping taxes of 15.8-34.5%
15	2004	Pipes, steel tubes	EU	No application of any anti-dumping measures
16	2004	stainless steel door fasteners	EU	Anti-dumping tax of 7%
17	2004	Florescent lamps (CFL-i)	EU	Anti-dumping tax of 66.1%
18	2004	Surfboards	Peru	Anti-dumping tax at US$5.2/unit
19	2005	Shoes with leather uppers	EU	Under investigation
20	2005	Florescent lamps	Egypt	Under investigation
21	2005	Bicycle spokes	Argentina	Under investigation