Vietnam will not see high year-end growth in exports of tra fish and shrimp to US this year because trade barriers have reduced their value, according to the national seafood association (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) -Vietnam will not see high year-end growth in exports of tra fish and shrimp toUS by this year because trade barriers have reduced their value, according tothe national seafood association.
Meanwhile, exports of theseseafood products to Japan, China, Brazil and the ASEAN bloc have increasedsignificantly in the first eight months of the year, according to the VietnamAssociation of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
In the first eight monthsof this year, the value of Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the US was nearly 416million USD, down 4.4 percent over the same period in 2016. The US has droppedfrom being the largest export market for Vietnamese shrimp in 2006 to fourthplace now.
According to theassociation the reduction was mainly due to the impact of the US Department ofCommerce (DOC) increasing antidumping duties in the preliminary determinationof the 11th administrative review (POR11) for Vietnam’s shrimp on the USmarket.
In addition, strongcompetition from India - the main competitor for Vietnamese shrimp in the USmarket, has contributed to the current situation.
Therefore, while demand forshrimp in the US market usually increases by the year-end because it is aholiday season, a corresponding increase in Vietnam’s shrimp exports to thismarket is unlikely.
[US raises anti-dumping duties on Vietnam’s frozen catfish fillets]
A similar situation appliesto tra fish. Because of the catfish inspection programme that started in August2017, Vietnam’s tra fish exports to the US reduced 58.5 percent month-on-monthto 18.44 million USD and 54.8 percent year-on-year. The Vinh Hoan Joint StockCompany, one of Vietnam’s largest tra fish exporters to the US, saw a reductionof about 50 percent in exports of the fish in August.
Moreover, in earlySeptember, the DOC announced it would impose an anti-dumping duty of 2.39 USD perkilogramme on frozen tra fish fillets which were imported from Vietnam betweenAugust 1, 2015 and July 31, 2016, following its POR 13. The rate wasthree times higher than the rate at POR12.
According to the local trafish businesses, this was an unfair decision that has hurt them. The highantidumping duty and the catfish inspection programme will prevent localbusinesses from promoting tra fish exports to the US market in the future.
The VASEP said that by theend of this year, Vietnam’s tra fish exports to the US market would continue todecrease.-VNA
VNA
