VietNamNet Bridge – Eighteen enterprises using imported stainless steel in production have proposed the Prime Minister not to approve the Vietnam Competition Authority’s initial conclusion on cold-rolled stainless steel being dumped in Vietnam.

According to these enterprises, the conclusion is unfair and causes damage to them as well as to consumers. Therefore, they requested the Prime Minister not to approve the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s proposal of imposing anti-dumping tariffs.

Earlier this month, the competition watchdog under the ministry announced the findings from the investigation that had been launched following requests from Posco VST and Hoa Binh Inox to impose anti-dumping taxes on stainless steel imported from China, Malaysia and Indonesia.

According to the preliminary conclusion made by the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA), such products are dumped in Vietnam and thus it proposed to introduce punitive tariffs ranging from 6.45 percent to 30.73 percent for 120 days.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will make a final decision after taking a closer look at the issue in the next six months.

After the initial conclusion was given, 18 enterprises producing products from stainless steel reacted strongly against the findings.

Representative of an enterprise told the Daily that if the aforementioned tariffs were levied, it would prevent enterprises from getting access to diverse material sources at competitive prices, push them to a difficult situation and make them unable to compete.

According to these enterprises, the costs of imported materials, if the proposed tariffs are counted, will rise by 6-30 percent while the prices of domestic materials have already been 10-20 percent higher than those on the global market.

In their proposal, 18 enterprises said that it was not easy for them to find replacements if the antidumping tariffs are introduced.

Stainless steel imported from China, Malaysia and Indonesia has been the major source of materials for these enterprises in the past decade.

Meanwhile, materials of domestic enterprises are priced higher and it is likely that domestic suppliers fail to supply enough product lines.

Besides, according to 18 enterprises in their proposal, the main reason for huge losses incurred by Posco VST and Hoa Binh Inox is their strong increase in production capacity at a time the stainless steel industry was in difficulty.

One detail which is revealed in the investigation process is that Posco VST has exported a large amount of products at a price which can cause big losses.

This is also the first time Vietnam has investigated and proposed to introduce anti-dumping tariffs.

Source: SGT