Unfair final results of the Ninth Administrative Reviews (POR9) on Vietnam pangasius

On March 31, 2014, The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has issued the final results of the ninth antidumping duty administrative reviews on certain frozen pangasius fillets imported from Vietnam. The period of review (POR) is August 1, 2011 through July 31, 2012. In the final decision, DOC imposes an antidumping duty of US$0.03 per kilogram and US$1.20 per kilogram to two mandatory respondents – Vinh Hoan Corporation and Hung Vuong Corporation. Other separate rate respondents have to pay US$0.42 per kilogram. Vietnam-wide rate is US$2.11 per kilogram.

Despite a strong claim of Vietnamese pangasius processors and exporters, the DOC insisted on selecting Indonesia to be the primary surrogate country for its calculations of the weighted-average dumping margins for Vietnamese pangasius products, while Indonesia is not economically comparable to Vietnam. This country has the Gross National Income (GNI) which is two times higher than that of Vietnam and its GDP is four times higher than that of Vietnam. The use of Indonesia led to increasing antidumping duty on Vietnamese pangasius, as there is a huge gap of fish production costs between Indonesia and Vietnam.

The final results of POR9 reflects that the DOC has been inconsistently tightening the selection of primary surrogate country and its calculations of anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese frozen pangasius fillets in recent period of reviews. This move is clearly a protectionist manner which has caused obstacles to Vietnamese pangasius exporters.

Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) calls for a serious consideration by the DOC in its inspections and calculations of anti-dumping duty in administrative reviews in the respect of American consumers' benefit, the livelihood of millions of Vietnamese people, who are depending on the pangasius industry in Mekong Delta, as well as commercial relations between the two countries.

The real facts shows that imports of pangasius from Vietnam into the U.S. market have not had harmful impacts on the U.S. catfish industry, but it creates jobs for those who engaged in sales of Vietnamese pangasius products and provides a stable source of whitemeat fish with good quality and reasonable price to American consumers.

As consideration of benefits of all relevant parties, VASEP requires the DOC to have fair and consistent policy of administration reviews of anti-dumping duty on frozen pangasius products traded in the U.S. market, opening a new period of economic cooperation with cooperative and democratic spirit and shared benefits of Vietnam and the U.S. fish industry.