Vietnam shrimp exporters to appeal against DOC antidumping duty

Some Vietnamese firms will appeal against the latest imposition of higher anti-dumping tariffs by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) on their exports of frozen shrimp to the North America market.

Tran Van Linh, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said these firms were disappointed with the DOC’s decision to raise duties on their shipments from Feb 1 of 2008 till Jan 31

These exporters expected further reductions because the duties had been on the downtrend since last year, Linh added.

The punitive tariff on shipments by Nha Trang Seafoods is raised to 5.58% from 2.5%, while other 29 exporters suffered an anti-dumping duty of 4.27%, up 1.3%.

In November 2004, the DOC concluded that Vietnam was dumping frozen shrimp on the U.S. market. The Vietnam-wide entity rate will be 25.76%, much higher than the 5.34% imposed on Thai shrimp; 10.17% on India; and 7.05% on Brazil’s.

“We are weighing the next step, including the possibility of appealing for a lower tariff,” Linh said.

U.S. importers are those who have to pay for the higher tariff but in fact, it will certainly make Vietnamese shrimp more expensive on the market, he added.

In late Mar, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has agreed to investigate Vietnam’s complaints against U.S. anti-dumping measures imposed on some frozen warm-water shrimp and the use of zeroing for calculating the margin.

The WTO Dispute Settlement Body has established a panel to examine Vietnam’s complaint.

This is the first time Vietnam has filed a complaint with WTO since joining the global trend body in Jan 2007.

Tags: DOC antidumping duty, Vietnam shrimp exports