The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced a new anti-dumping tax
on frozen tra and basa fillets imported from Vietnam.
DOC’s 9 th period of review (POR 9) ruled that, the Vietnamese fish
products exported to the US from August 1, 2011 to July 31, 2012 will
face high tax rates.
Notably, the rates almost doubled to 0.42
USD/kg for products of the Vinh Hoan Corp. and 2.15 USD /kg for the
Hung Vuong seafood company’s products.
Vinh Hoan and Hung Vuong are now among the leading tra and basa exporters in Vietnam.
Rates ranging from 0.99 USD/kg to 2.11 USD/kg will also be imposed on products of other Vietnamese tra producers.
In an interview with US-based Vietnam News Agency’s correspondents on
September 4, a representative from the Vietnam Trade Office (VTO) in the
US said that the US decision is unexpected and contradictory.
DOC decided to take Indonesia as a sole benchmark country to calculate
and impose the anti-dumping on Vietnamese fish products, although
Indonesia was not included in the list of countries subject to the rate
announced by the department in November 2011.
According to VTO,
Indonesia must not be taken because Vietnam and the country have
different economic conditions and tra fish farming and processing
industries.
Vietnamese tra exporters will have four months to appeal the DOC’s decision.-VNA