The removal of an anti-dumping tax may lead to frozen warm-water shrimp to be dumped on the U.S. market again, according to the preliminary results of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (DOC) second sunset review of Vietnamese shrimp.
The Vietnam Competition Authority said Vietnam’s frozen warm-water shrimp exported to the U.S. would not be exempt from the anti-dumping tax if the DOC makes a similar conclusion in its final decision planned to be out early next year.
The U.S. started imposing the duty on frozen shrimp imports from Vietnam over 10 years ago and the DOC is still concerned that Vietnamese exporters might keep selling shrimp stateside at prices below fair market value if the anti-dumping duty is lifted.
The sunset review is conducted every five years. According to the Vietnam Competition Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the DOC used the dumping margins from the sixth to tenth Periods of Review (POR6 to POR10) as well as shrimp imports into the U.S. before and after the imposition of anti-dumping duties for the latest review.
Vietnamese exporters said if the DOC had not applied the zeroing method to calculate the dumping margins, they would have received de minimis dumping margins in all the review periods since the first sunset review.
Vietnamese firms took the recent conclusion of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Appellate Body for South Korea’s DS464 case as an example. Accordingly, the zeroing method was concluded as inconsistent with the Anti-Dumping Agreement even if a differential pricing method was applied.
Domestic exporters argued that the dumping margins imposed on their shrimp exports would have been insignificant if the zeroing method had not been applied. Therefore, they said they could export shrimp with the same amount as in the period before the duty was levied in 2005.
However, the DOC rejected the argument because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) regulates that a report of the WTO’s Appellate Body is invalid unless it is adopted in accordance with the specific provisions in the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA).
The DOC also used statistics of the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) when reviewing shrimp imports before and after the anti-tax was applied. Statistics showed that shrimp imports from Vietnam changed after the duties were imposed but recent imports have remained at the same or even higher than before the tax was slapped.
The DOC said since dumping margins existed in POR8 and POR9, corporate defendants in Vietnam would not have been able to sell the same amount as before the imposition of the duty if they had not dumped their products. Therefore, the DOC concluded that dumping may continue if the duty is lifted.
Data of the General Department of Customs showed that Vietnam shipped abroad US$4.36 billion worth of seafood in January-August, up 6.2% compared to the same period last year.
The U.S. remained Vietnam’s largest shrimp importer in the period with US$906 million, up 14.3% year-on-year, followed by Japan with US$650 million, up 0.5% and South Korea with US$413 million, soaring 57.2%.
Prices of shrimp in the Mekong Delta have been stable despite the DOC’s final results of the tenth Period of Review (POR10) on anti-dumping duties for shrimp imports from Vietnam.
Applied to shrimp exported to the U.S. between February 1, 2014 and January 31, 2015, the tariff rose from 0.91% in POR9 to 4.78% in POR10 for both mandatory and voluntary defendants.
The price of white-leg shrimp in the region has increased by about VND5,000 per kilogram in the past 10 days while that of tiger prawn has remained stable.
In Bac Lieu, traders buy a kilo of white-leg shrimp at VND85,000-170,000 from farmers. As for tiger prawns, the prices are VND100,000-270,000 for a kilogram.
In Ca Mau and Tra Vinh provinces, white-leg shrimp is sold at VND80,000-170,000 per kilogram while prices of tiger prawns are VND100,000-275,000.
Nguyen Van Lam, a shrimp trader in Ca Mau Province, said shrimp prices are still VND15,000-25,000 per kilogram lower than the peak this year.
Source : http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/
Key words : U.S, may continue, anti-dumping duty, Vietnam, shrimp.
