US cuts dumping tax on shrimp

In the first eight months of this year, due to tough competition in prices and supply sources from other large exporters such as India and Indonesia, Viet Nam's shrimp export to the US fell by more than 50 per cent to US$370 million. Photo caffef.vn

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) on Monday announced the final result of the 9th period of review (POR9) on anti-dumping tariffs imposed on Vietnamese frozen shrimp products exported to the US market from February 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014, according to the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

VASEP reported on its website that average tariff has been reduced to 0.91 per cent from 0.93 per cent of the POR9's preliminary result released on March 3.

Accordingly, Minh Phu Seafood Corporation would face an anti-dumping tax rate of 1.39 per cent, instead of the previous rate of 1.5 per cent, while the tariff imposed on Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trading Corporation has been raised to 1.16 per cent from 1.06 per cent.

Fimex Viet Nam would enjoy zero anti-dumping duty while 32 other Vietnamese exporters would have to pay 0.91 per cent duty.

VASEP said that the DOC took the decision taking into account the data from three countries – Bangladesh, India and Indonesia – to arrive at decisions for POR9.

The POR9's average tariff largely dropped from the POR8's average duty of 6.37 per cent. The tariff cut was expected to accelerate Vietnamese shrimp export to the US after a hefty slump in the first eight months of this year, according to VASEP.

In the first eight months of this year, due to tough competition in prices and supply sources from other large exporters such as India and Indonesia, Viet Nam's shrimp export to the US fell by more than 50 per cent to US$370 million. The downward trend started from September last year when DOC had released its POR8's result.

The US was the largest customer of Viet Nam shrimps with a turnover of $1 billion last year.

In July, VASEP had forecast that Viet Nam's total shrimp export could reach $3.2 billion this year, dropping by almost 18 per cent compared to the previous year due to low export prices, exchange rate fluctuations and competition from other exporters like India, Thailand and Ecuador.