US Department of Commerce meets with Vietnamese shrimp exporters
To have a basis for making a decision on anti-subsidy tax on shrimp imported from Vietnam, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) met with businesses.
DOC's inspection trip to Hanoi, Nha Trang and Ca Mau lasted from June 10-16. Half a month ago, the agency announced a preliminary decision based only on collected data. Now, DOC is directly conducting an inspection to make a final decision on shrimp imported from Vietnam at the end of August, and this is part of DOC's process.
According to DOC, from January 1 to December 31, 2011, the two mandatory defendants, Minh Qui Seafood Company and Nha Trang Seafoods, received subsidies from the Government. Of which, Minh Qui had a preliminary subsidy margin of 5.08%, Nha Trang Seafoods was 7.05%, and the other companies were 6.07%.
Mr. Le Van Quang, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Minh Phu Seafood Corporation, said that this was an unfair imposition, causing great damage to shrimp processing and exporting enterprises. The DOC's preliminary ruling was based on reports from the Vietnamese Government on a series of policies and support and incentives for the shrimp export industry. From there, the DOC accused and imposed anti-subsidy taxes on shrimp exported from Vietnam.
"A series of issues regarding policies and subsidies for farmers and exporting enterprises have been announced to the world, but in reality, this is not the case. I affirm that for a long time, Vietnamese shrimp exporting enterprises have operated according to market mechanisms and have not received any subsidies from the State in production and business activities," Mr. Quang affirmed.
According to Mr. Quang, recently many domestic commercial banks announced that the State has a policy of supporting 10% interest rate for export processing enterprises. While enterprises have previously borrowed from commercial banks with a maximum interest rate of only 6-7%. "Why announce a policy of preferential interest rate of 10% for enterprises while we are still borrowing at a much lower interest rate? Such unrealistic policies are the basis for DOC to oppress Vietnamese shrimp exporting enterprises to make the recent decision to impose anti-subsidy tax", Mr. Quang added.
Mr. Tran Thien Hai, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said that if the anti-subsidy tax is imposed on more than 6%, it will cause great damage to Vietnam's shrimp export industry. According to Mr. Hai, in fact, the shrimp industry does not receive any subsidies from the State, but it is unfair to have to pay anti-subsidy tax. However, the accusations made by the DOC are based on real reports from the Government.
According to VASEP leaders, the policies, incentives, and subsidies for the shrimp industry only exist on paper and are not practical and do not help shrimp exporting enterprises. "VASEP will work directly with the plaintiff's lawyer to reaffirm that the allegations are unreasonable," Mr. Hai added.
According to VASEP, the DOC’s preliminary ruling has greatly affected the export activities of Vietnamese enterprises to the US, affecting transactions and trade between the two countries in the current and upcoming period. More seriously, this unreasonable ruling will directly affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of shrimp farmers as well as workers working in the field of shrimp production, processing and export in Vietnam.
According to (VnExpress) - PH
