A Pangasius processing plant in Vietnam, which is likely to suffer from heavy losses due to the increased tariff rates (Photo: Mard)

Anti-dumping tariffs on pangasius rocket

VIET NAM
Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 02:20 (GMT + 9)

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has made a preliminary decision on charging anti-dumping tariffs on imported Vietnamese pangasius from 1 August 2008 until 31 July 2009, informed the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP). Vietnamese firms have to pay a high tax rate of USD 4.22 per kg, a 100-120 per cent jump from last year, even though the fish sells for a lot less than the tax in the American market.

It is anticipated that, as a result, pangasius companies will suffer heavy losses as well as face additional barriers in the US market, SGGP reports.

The anti-dumping tariff is unreasonable, VASEP Vice President Nguyen Huu Dung argued, because the DOC chose to compare the Philippines, a country that hosts only a few fish breeding areas, with Vietnam.

Moreover, aquaculture in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam has grown tremendously due to massive investment in breeding and processing techniques plus low input costs.

VASEP has decided to deal with the problem by starting to get in touch with relevant agencies and companies to ask the DOC to go back and reassess its anti-dumping taxes on pangasius imported from Vietnam.

Per the regulations, the DOC makes a decision each year on whether to increase or cut anti-dumping taxes for Vietnamese firms. In the past, the department had applied low anti-dumping tariffs of between 0 and 0.52 per cent on tra fish originating from Vietnam, a practice that helped ease the flow of tra fish into the US market.

Meanwhile, the DOC last March communicated that the average anti-dumping tariff on shrimp products imported from 29 Vietnamese companies would fall from 4.57 to 2.89 per cent. The preliminary decision was made at the department’s fourth administrative review from 1 February 2008 to 31 January 2009.

The US imports 16.9 per cent of Vietnam’s seafood exports.

Related articles:

- Shrimp exporters to pay lower US tariffs
- US fish exec gives exporters advice

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

Print