The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has released preliminary results of its latest antidumping duty administrative review on Vietnamese shrimp, with higher duties proposed for any shipment from the Southeast Asian country.
The tenth administrative review (POR10) looked into antidumping taxes levied on certain frozen warm-water shrimp from Vietnam for the period of review from February 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015, according to a notice by the International Trade Administration (ITA) on March 10.
The ITA was established by the Secretary of Commerce to promote world trade and to strengthen the international trade and investment position of the United States.
The POR10 was requested on 51 Vietnamese shrimp exporters, including two mandatory respondents, Minh Phu Group and Soc Trang Seafood JSC (Stapimex), according to the document seen byTuoi Tre News.
Mandatory respondents are exporters selected for individual investigation by the DOC as part of its countervailing duty review, whereas exporters that are not initially chosen for investigation but wish to participate, and are accepted by DOC, are voluntary respondents.
According to the preliminary results of the POR10, sales by both Minh Phu Group and Stapimex to the U.S. were made below normal value, and, therefore, are subject to antidumping duties.
The duty on Minh Phu Group was initially set at 2.86 percent, compared with 1.39 percent inPOR9, while Stapimex is now subject to a tariff of 4.78 percent.
At the same time, antidumping duty on voluntary respondents was preliminarily established at 3.56 percent, nearly four times higher than the official 0.91 percent set in POR9.
The tariff on other Vietnamese firms, those exporters not examined as mandatory or voluntary respondents in the POR10, remains at 25.76 percent, according to preliminary results.
The higher duties are expected to spell trouble for Vietnamese shrimp exporters, especially at a time when most Thai exporters, their main rivals in the U.S. market, are currently only subject to an average duty of 1.35 percent, according to industry experts.
However, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) was reassured that these are only preliminary results, meaning Vietnamese firms should wait until the official results are released, expected to be around July this year.
Source: http://tuoitrenews.vn/
Keywords: US, to set, higher, antidumping, tariff, Vietnamese shrimp
