China’s Brazil footwear trouble hits Vietnam

Vietnamese footwear exports to Brazil will come under the scanner as the South American country begins an investigation into whether China is bypassing anti-dumping tariffs by exporting through Indonesia and Vietnam.

“Chinese footwear manufacturers send their products through Vietnam and Indonesia and label them as made there to bypass the tariff,” the Associated Press quoted the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade as saying in a statement released Wednesday.

Brazil has slapped anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese footwear products since 2009.

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Competition Management Agency, footwear exported to Brazil between July 2010 and June 2011 with codes between 6402 and 6405 will come under investigation.

An official from the agency told Saigon Times Online that Vietnam would be considered as evading tariffs if any of its footwear products had more than 60 per cent material of Chinese origin.

But he said Vietnamese exporters could prove they did not have anything to do with the Chinese footwear manufacturers’ evasion of tax.

Vietnamese footwear exports to Brazil currently attract an 18 per cent anti-dumping tax. If they are found to be of Chinese origin, this rate will be added to the anti-dumping tariff imposed on Chinese footwear.

The agency said the tariff could be as high as 250 per cent.

Vietnam’s footwear exports to Brazil topped $118.9 million in the year to August, a 50 per cent rise year-on-year. – Tuoitre

Tags: Vietnam Footwear, Vietnam Footwear Exports