On August 30, 2022, the US Department of Commerce issued the final conclusion in the third final review of anti-dumping duties on warm water shrimp products imported from China, India, Thailand and Vietnam.

 

Regarding the anti-dumping investigation on warm water shrimp products imported from Vietnam, the US Department of Commerce officially initiated an anti-dumping investigation on warm water shrimp products imported from Vietnam and some other countries from 2004 to the United States.

 

On January 26, 2005, the United States imposed anti-dumping duties on enterprises exporting the above products with duty rates ranging from 4.30% to 25.76%.

 

More than a decade later, in July 2016, a Vietnamese enterprise was eligible for an exemption from the anti-dumping duty order, and accordingly, the DOC lifted the duty rate for that business on the basis of the WTO dispute settlement and US law.

 

Since then, the DOC has conducted the 2nd sunset review, 04 subsequent administrative reviews (POR10, 11, 12, 13), canceled 02 administrative reviews (POR14, 15), and is conducting a review of POR16 for the period from February 1, 2021, to January 31, 2022.

 

Sunset review is a review carried out immediately before the expiration of 5 years from the date of the official decision to impose anti-dumping duty or from the date of the review results. Reviews are carried out at the request of related parties or at the discretion of the investigating agency themselves.

 

If the review results show that stopping the imposition of anti-dumping duties may cause continuation or re-emergence of dumping and damage, the anti-dumping duty will continue to be applied for another 5 years.

 

Notably, in the final conclusion of the latest review (POR13), the DOC has determined the official duty rates for 02 mandatory defendants and 29 companies to enjoy separate duty rates at 0%, meaning they are no longer subject to anti-dumping duties.

 

The third final review of anti-dumping duties on warm water shrimp imported from Vietnam

 

The conclusion of the DOC is good news for the warm water shrimp industry in Vietnam. Since 2014, Vietnam has always been in the top three seafood exporters worldwide.

 

According to statistics from the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the total seafood export turnover of Vietnam in the first eight months of 2022 reached about 7.6 billion USD, up about 36.2% compared to the same period in 2021, in which shrimp exports reached a turnover of about 3 billion USD, up about 22.5% over the same period in 2021.

 

The conclusion of the final review will apply to the entire manufacturing industry and not to individual enterprises. Generally, the DOC will determine that the removal of an order is likely to continue or recur in dumping when:

 

• dumping margin remained above the minimum level after the duty order was issued;
• stop importing the goods under investigation after the duty order is issued;
• there is no more dumping after the imposition of the duty order is issued and the import volume of the product under investigation is significantly reduced.

 

In contrast, the DOC will generally determine that the removal of an order is unlikely to continue or recur if the dumping ceases after the order is issued and imports stabilize or even increase.

 

According to the conclusion of the DOC, the lifting of the order to impose anti-dumping duties in the case of the third final review of anti-dumping duties on warm-water shrimp imported from Vietnam, and three other countries including China, India, Thailand will not be implemented because the DOC considers that removing the imposition of the duty order will lead to the possibility of continuing the dumping of warm water shrimp products.

 

Accordingly, the duty rates imposed on these four countries will remain as they are.

 

In the coming time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam will continue to work closely with the VASEP and Vietnam’s shrimp exporters to handle related issues to support the producers and exporters of warm water shrimp products in Vietnam.

 

The final conclusions of the DOC can be downloaded here.

 

Source: Lexology