According to the Department of Trade Remedies (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the International Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) has just published the Official Gazette on the Preliminary Conclusion in the case of anti-circumvention investigation (CLT) of anti-dumping tax (CBPG) on car, bus and truck tires originating or imported from Vietnam.

General information about the case, the Trade Remedies Authority said that on September 20, 2024, ITAC initiated an investigation into the case at the request of the plaintiff - the South African Tyre Manufacturers Association.

The investigated goods are automobile, bus and truck tires under HS codes 4011.10.01, 4011.10.03, 4011.10.05, 4011.10.07, 4011.10.09, 4011.20.16, 4011.20.18 and 4011.20.26. The anti-dumping investigation period is from November 1, 2022 to May 31, 2024; the anti-dumping tax evasion investigation period is from August 1, 2022 to July 31, 2024.

ITAC identified six Vietnamese companies that responded to the initial questionnaire. However, ITAC subsequently sent requests for additional information to the six companies and only three Vietnamese companies responded. Two-thirds of the fully cooperating companies were subject to on-site inspections by ITAC in February 2025.

The domestic industry affected is the tyre manufacturing industry of the SACU bloc (Southern African Customs Union, comprising five member countries: South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and Namibia).

Accordingly, ITAC has preliminarily concluded that there has been a change in the trade pattern between China, Vietnam and the SACU bloc. Specifically, the volume of imports of the investigated product from China to the SACU bloc has decreased in the period from the financial year 2021-2022 to 2022-2023 and 2023-2024; while the volume of imports from Vietnam has increased sharply in the period from 2021-2022 to 2023-2024, coinciding with the time when imports from China have declined.

The volume of imports from Vietnam to SACU in the period from 01/08/2023 to 31/07/2024 accounts for about 6% of the total import volume into this bloc, ranking second only to Thailand (13.89%). The above import volume from Vietnam is large enough to have an impact on reducing the effectiveness of the anti-dumping measures currently applied to China.

ITAC determined that there was dumping from Vietnam with a dumping margin of 78.90%.

From the above factors, ITAC preliminarily concludes that there is evasion of anti-dumping measures applied to China by Vietnam.

Three companies cooperated and fully answered the questionnaire, which was reviewed by ITAC and concluded specifically as follows: 2/3 of the companies were concluded by ITAC not to have evaded anti-dumping duties because they were not established during the initial investigation with China and did not sell domestically or export the investigated products to SACU during the investigation period.

The remaining company was found to have evaded anti-dumping tax and was subject to a tax rate of 8.78%.

The remaining Vietnamese companies, due to their failure to fully cooperate with ITAC, received the nationwide tax rate determined in the original investigation (base case) against China of 41.47%.

In the Notice of Preliminary Conclusion, ITAC decided to impose temporary anti-avoidance tax on Vietnamese enterprises producing and exporting the investigated goods due to the situation of South African enterprises suffering losses during the investigation period. The temporary tax will be applied for a period of 6 months until the final conclusion of this investigation is available.

In order to continue handling the next stages of the case, the Trade Defense Department recommends that the Vietnam Rubber Association promptly notify the preliminary conclusion to related enterprises producing and exporting the investigated products; discuss the next handling direction with enterprises and recommend the Government support measures, if necessary.

For related manufacturing and exporting enterprises, it is necessary to carefully study the content of ITAC's Preliminary Conclusion and send written comments to ITAC if necessary. At the same time, closely monitor the developments of the case and fully cooperate with ITAC in the next phase of investigation.

According to the Trade Remedies Authority, any act of non-cooperation or insufficient cooperation could result in the South African Investigative Authority using available evidence to the disadvantage of the business or imposing high anti-circumvention duties on the business.

Therefore, enterprises need to study in advance the request for ITAC to review and adjust the anti-avoidance tax rate in the future in case they want to maintain exports to the SACU bloc; regularly coordinate and update information for the Trade Defense Department to receive timely support; proactively diversify markets and export products to avoid being affected in case the case leads to a final Conclusion to impose tax on enterprises.

Source: Chính phủ News