VietNamNet Bridge – The Directorate of Fisheries of Vietnam (D-Fish) is considering suing the US Department of Commerce in a US federal court for its unfair calculation of anti-dumping margins on Vietnamese frozen fish fillets.
In its final determination released on March 14, the DOC decided to select Indonesia as the reference country for calculating anti-dumping duties on frozen fish fillets imported from Vietnam.
Accordingly, it agreed to impose new tax rates which are ten times more than the previous ones, from just several cents per kilo to several dollars per kilo.
D-Fish Deputy General Director Pham Anh Tuan described the DOC’s decision as unfair, explaining that Indonesia’s socio-economic conditions are completely different from Vietnam’s.
He said the fisheries sector is working with the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) and lawyers to make clear the US’s possible miscalculations.
As the US determination takes effect within five days’ time, the Directory of Fisheries and its lawyers are considering the possibility of bringing the case to the US federal commercial court.
Businesses will not have to hand in the required deposits for new tax rates before the final ruling is issued.
It’s worth remembering that in the previous seven reviews the US selected Bangladesh as the reference country to calculate the margins on Vietnamese fish products.
In an exclusive interview with a Washington-based VOV correspondent, Dao Tran Nhan, head of the Vietnam Trade Office in the US, said the DOC’s decision was strongly impacted by groups of US catfish farmers and processors, particularly the Catfish Farmers of America, that lobbied the DOC to select Indonesia instead of Bangladesh in tax calculations.
The US conducts an annual administrative review against Vietnamese exports under its anti-dumping lawsuits. Nhan suggested that Vietnamese businesses and lawyers gather sufficient evidence before the US issues its 9th preliminary determination scheduled for September 2013 as well as the final determination in March 2014.
He also asked them to be well prepared for another possible scenario in which the DOC would select another country to calculate new tax rates on Vietnamese fish fillets.
Many fishery experts advised both farmers and businesses to keep a cool head, or else the situation could lead to a temporary sell-off, resulting great losses.
Tran Thanh Hai, head of the Can Tho City Fisheries Department, asked VASEP and relevant Vietnamese agencies to take action to protect farmers and businesses from this unfair decision.
He also suggested that the fishery sector restructure production and export markets, giving priority to businesses subject to low margins. Those subject to higher rates will shift to other markets outside the US.
The US has a high demand for frozen Tra fish fillet imports. In January 2013 it became the largest consumer of Vietnamese frozen Tra fish fillets.
Source: VOV