DOC Readjusts Anti-Dumping Tariffs on Vietnamese Catfish

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has just readjusted anti-dumping tariffs on catfish fillets imported from Vietnam after a recent review.

 

Accordingly, the Mekong Delta Dong Thap province-based Vinh Hoan Co. will receive a tax reduction from 36.84 per cent to only 6.81 per cent. However, the rate for Can Tho Agricultural & Animal Products Imex Company (Cataco) is raised to 80.88 per cent from 45.81 per cent.

 

These are two of the four named defendants in the tra and basa anti-dumping case in 2003. The two remainders are An Giang Fisheries Import & Export Joint Stock Company (Agifish) and Nam Viet Ltd. Co.

 

The rate for other Vietnamese catfish exporters to the US, meanwhile, is kept unchanged at 63.88 per cent.

 

Catfish farming is the main subsistence of many farmers in the Mekong Delta. Figures from the Ministry of Fisheries show that basa and tra fish account for 53 per cent of Vietnam's total fish exports and 12.5 per cent of the export revenue, which amounted to US$2.7 billion last year.

 

Nearly half a million Vietnamese people, mostly in the Mekong Delta region, are engaged in catfish farming. Many of them had vacated traditional agriculture and shifted to fishing. Collapse of exports spells ruin for them.