|
Vietnam opposes US duties on tra, basa exports
Vietnamese businesses and farmers are opposed to a US decision announced early this week to maintain existing antidumping duties on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam, the Vietnam Fisheries Association said Thursday.
The association chairman Nguyen Viet Thang was responding to an announcement on Tuesday by the US International Trade Commission which said the existing order would remain in place for other five years.
Thang, the former deputy fisheries minister, said local businesses were not dumping the product in the US market as they were processed in line with commitments under World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations.
In February, the US Department of Commerce also decided to maintain the antidumping duty on the imports of pangasius or tra and basa fish from Vietnam for five more years.
“Vietnamese businesses were not subsidized by the government and tried themselves to apply technology and international quality management to supply competitive products,” Thang told Thanh Nien Daily.
He said the practice was monitored by associations, government agencies and importers and recognized by US agencies which reduced the tariff on the product in their administration reviews.
“We were surprised. The US authorities should have removed tariffs for all products when the first period of five years ended, or they would be disrespecting WTO commitments,” said Thang, who added that the duties would harm Vietnamese farmers and businesses and US consumers.
Ngo Phuoc Hau, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors, said the decisions were expected by Vietnamese businesses as the US authorities would not want to lift the duty in a situation where their businesses were dealing with the ongoing recession.
Hau said Vietnamese businesses were worried about the US Farm Bill, which would seriously affect pangasius exports, because it would force the fish to be labeled as catfish in the US market.
The US Congress has amended the Federal Meat Inspection Act to designate catfish, as defined by the Secretary of Agriculture, a species subject to mandatory inspections after December.
Thang said it was unfair to ask that Vietnamese tra and basa be labeled catfish when it was the US government that banned use of the name when it initiated the antidumping duty in 2003.
Vietnamese businesses would face complicated procedures with the US customs department under the bill, said Thang who added that the move aimed to protect US businesses.
Tra and basa fish are key seafood export products that earned US$77 million from the US market, out of the country’s total seafood export revenues of $4.5 billion last year.
Minh Quang - Quang Thuan
thanhnien
|
