Vietnam ups tariffs to protect domestic producers

Vietnam is increasing the application of trade defence instruments to protect the legitimate rights of domestic producers as the country integrates rapidly into the global economy.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade on March 18 issued an initial decision to temporarily impose anti-dumping duty on monosodium glutamate (MSG) products originating from China and Indonesia.

Exporters of products originating from China would face tariffs ranging from VNĐ2.889 million (US$124) per tonne to VNĐ6.385 million. A tariff of VNĐ5.289 million per tonne would be applied to all products originating from Indonesia.

The tariff would be in effect from March 25 for 120 days.

The ministry initiated investigations in October 2019, which found that despite the imposition of a safeguard tariff of VNĐ3.2 million per tonne, MSG products originating from China and Indonesia had dumping margin of up to 28 per cent, posing significant injuries to domestic production.

According to Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam, from 2016, the MSG production industry in many countries saw rising inventories, which might lead to dumping to other countries, including Vietnam. This created difficulty and pressure on local industry.

In addition, the US and European Union were imposing anti-dumping tariffs on MSG originating from China and Indonesia, thus, the authority said that producers from the two countries might seek to expand export markets, including Vietnam.

Vietnam was the second largest MSG export market of China and fourth of Indonesia.

Further investigations were still ongoing for a final decision. Investigations to evaluate impacts to related parties, including end-users, were expected to finish in the last quarter of this year.

On the same day, the ministry also decided to impose temporary anti-dumping duty on biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) originating from China, Thailand and Malaysia. The duties would range from 14.99 per cent to 43.04 per cent for products from China, 10.91 per cent to 23.05 per cent for Malaysia and 20.35 per cent for Thailand.

The investigation would be carried out until the third quarter of this year.

Starting in August 2019, the investigation found that strong rise in import volume during the investigation process caused injuries to local production, especially drops in output, sale, revenue, profit, and market share. Many local producers suffered losses and went bankrupt, according to the Trade Remedies Authority.

In another development, Canada temporarily imposed anti-dumping and subsidy duties on corrosion-resistant steel sheet originating from several countries, including Vietnam.

The investigation initiated in November 2019 found Vietnamese exporters had dumping margins from 36.3 per cent to 91.8 per cent, thus, anti-dumping duty was imposed from March 20. The final decision was expected on June 18.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said it would continue working with relevant agencies to ensure that the dumping margins in the final decision were more reasonable.

Exporters of products originating from Vietnam were not subject to subsidy tariff as initial findings showed that the Government did not subsidise them.

Vietnam News -March 24, 2020