Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s tra fish exporters can still access the US market despite theUS Department of Commerce (DOC)’s imposition of high anti-dumping duties onVietnamese tra fish, said Secretary General of the Vietnam Association ofSeafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) Truong Dinh Hoe.

Hoe explained thatVietnamese businesses have brought the case to the US Commerce Court, whichwill review the DOC’s tax imposition and may ask the department to adjust therate.  

This is not thefirst time Vietnam has filed a lawsuit against the DOC, he said, noting that inprevious cases, the court had required the DOC to reduce duties levied onVietnamese products.

“Therefore, we believethat the case would end with a similar result, which mean the DOC will have tore-calculate the tax rate” the official said.

Therefore, thedoor to the US market is still open for Vietnamese tra exporters, according toHoe.

Accordingto the final results of the DOC’s 13th administrative review (POR13)of anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese Tra fish (pangasius) exported to the USfrom August 1, 2015 through July 31, 2016, Godaco Seafood JSC, which wasselected as the only mandatory respondent during the POR13, was imposed a tax rateof 3.87 USD per kg, 5.61 times higher than 0.60 USD of POR12, and the highestever level.

The taxrate is irrational and unfair as the DOC did not fullyconsider the information provided by Godaco but insteadapplied adverse factors available (AFA) to determine the duty margin, Hoe said.

He went onto say that in the context of the return of protectionism, in order to maintaintheir share in the world market, the first requirement for Vietnamesebusinesses is product quality.

It isnecessary to lower prices of Vietnamese tra and basa fish to compete with otheraquatic products in the US, he said.

Accordingto the official, in the first quarter of 2018, export revenue of Vietnamese traand basa fish exceeded 400 million USD, up about 7 percent year-on-year.

The figuresreflect local businesses’ efforts to seek new markets in the face ofunfavourable signs from the US market, he said.

Signs ofrecovery have also been seen in EU and South American markets, along with healthygrowth in China, he added, urging greater efforts to balance the demand andsupply of tra fish.-VNA