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Dumping claim over clothes hangers
The US Department of Commerce has instituted an anti-dumping action and filed countervailing duty petitions against steel garment hangers from Vietnam and Taiwan.
The preliminary phase of the investigation process was commenced on December 29 and is slated for completion on February 21, the department reported.
Under the petitions, anti-dumping margins for made-in-Vietnam steel garment hangers ranged from 82.87 percent to 159.20 percent.
Petitioners included the US producers M&B Metal Products Co Inc, Innovative Fabrication LLC/Indy Hanger, and US Hanger Co LLC.
India will be likely the third country which US authorities use to compare costs for production during the investigation since Vietnam is not recognised by the US as a market economy.
About 10 Vietnamese hanger makers have jointly hired lawyers to respond to the action.
"If the local producers don't prepare documents comprehensively to follow-up the lawsuit, it is possible that anti-dumping tariffs may be high," said Dinh Anh Tuyet of the IDVN Law Office.
According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, after the investigation, the US Department of Commerce will issue a preliminary determination in June and then the US International Trade Commission will make a final determination in July.
This marks the third time that Vietnam has been hit with claims involving both anti-dumping tariffs and countervailing duties. The first was the action against Vietnamese polyethylene plastics (PE) in 2009 and the second involved carbon-steel pipe fittings. Vietnamese PE producers were applied high anti-dumping tariffs on the grounds that enterprises' documents did not satisfy the requirements of the US Department of Commerce, said Tuyet.
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