US maintains decision to lift anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese shrimp

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Wednesday that its April decision scrapping anti-dumping duties on 32 Vietnamese shrimp exporters stays in effect.

Vietnamese workers devein shrimp at a processing factory in My Xuyen District, Soc Trang Province, southern Vietnam. Photo by Roberto Schmidt/AFP.

This means that the 32 Vietnamese exporters of frozen warm-water shrimp will face zero percent anti-dumping duties, Ho Quoc Luc, General Director of Sao Ta Food JSC, a Vietnamese supplier of shrimp and other seafood, told local press.

The Department of Commerce (DOC) had in April temporarily scrapped preliminary anti-dumping duties of 4.58 percent on the 32 companies after conducting a periodical administrative review to decide whether shrimp exported by the Vietnamese enterprises were being dumped on the U.S. market.

Luc said the decision is good news for the Vietnamese shrimp industry, and an opportunity for the country to boost shrimp exports to the U.S. The decision also showed that Vietnamese enterprises have been honest in their operations and cooperation with the DOC, he added.

However, according to the U.S. Federal Register, the U.S. still applies a general ad valorem duty of 25.76 percent on shrimp imports from Vietnam, which currently applies to 67 other companies. These companies, like the 32 exporters, will have to apply individually for a separate tax rate in the next review period if they want to be exempt from anti-dumping duties.

The U.S. is among the largest importers of Vietnamese shrimp. Last year shipments were worth $3.55 billion, a year-on-year decline of 7.8 percent, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers.