Mr. Au Thanh Long, Vice President of the Southeast Livestock Association, told Nong Thon Ngay Nay newspaper on Monday that he had just finished a business trip to the United States (19/8 to 2/9) to learn about the chicken market and the costs and procedures to pursue an anti-dumping case against US chicken in Vietnam.

According to the survey of the Southeast Livestock Association, the price of chicken thighs sold at Walmart in the US was $2.79/kg, equivalent to VND63,000/kg; chicken wings $3.3/kg, equivalent to VND74,000/kg; chicken breast $4.38/kg, equivalent to VND98,000/kg; chicken as a whole $3.39/kg, equivalent to VND76,000/kg.

"US chicken thighs sold to Vietnam for only $0.8/kg (VND18,000/kg), equivalent to 29% of the price of the similar product sold in the US market, excluding frozen shipping rates, import duties and other fees ... Also, this price is  below the cost of production," Long said.

Also according to the survey, though the price for feed in the US is 15% lower than Vietnam (because the US is an exporter of corn and soybeans - the price of corn in the US is only VND3,300/kg compared to VND5,400/kg in Vietnam), the cost of labor, electricity and materials in the US is higher than in Vietnam.

"After visiting some US companies, we find out that basically, the production cost of US chicken is not much different from that in Vietnam, about VND26,000-VND27,000/kg. So if the price of US chicken in Vietnam is only VND18,000/kg, it is dumped by more than 30%," Long said.

On the basis of field surveys, the Southeast Livestock Association is calling for cooperation from the large breeding companies in the region to take the final steps to collect evidence to send to the Competition Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to conduct the anti-dumping lawsuit. The initial cost for the case is estimated at around VND10 billion (nearly $500,000).

"The major breeding companies in the region such as CP, Emivest, Japfa, CJ, Bel Ga ... have been on our side. These companies account for up to 90% of the Vietnamese chicken market while the law requires only 25% to be eligible to file a claim," Long said.

The Association plans to complete the file to transfer to the Competition Bureau in November.

Not enough evidence?

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son, Director of the Institute of Animal Husbandry and Chairman of the Vietnam Poultry Association, said that there is not enough grounds to assert commercial fraud in this case.

Earlier, an official of the Vietnam Poultry Association said that according to surveys in the US market and the relevant units, US chicken wings and thigh exported to Vietnam had the lowest price of $0.9/kg (not including taxes and charges), equivalent to VND20,160/kg. Therefore, American chicken sold in Vietnam for only VND20,000/kg means commercial fraud or the collusion of businesses and the "helping hand" of customs forces. 

Immediately, the General Department of Customs confirmed that US chicken was officialy imported into Vietnam, with the tax rates of 20% to 40%. All information about products was provided for the Competition Administration to clarify whether US chicken was dumped in Vietnam.

The statistics for the first six months of 2015 show that chicken imported into Vietnam was mainly sourced from the US, Brazil, South Korea ... In particular, the US accounted for more than 60% of the total import value of chicken in Vietnam, worth $39.1 million. 

The pre-tax prices for chicken are $0.8 to $1.78 per kilo, equivalent to VND18,200 to VND38,300 per kilo. There are 82 enterprises importing chicken through seaports in HCM City and Hai Phong.

Dan Viet