VietNamNet Bridge - The US has decided to impose new anti-dumping duties on Vietnam’s shrimp, five times higher than previous years and two to three times higher than duties imposed on Vietnam's competitors.

According to the Import/Export Agency, shrimp exports bring 50 percent of total seafood export turnover, while the US is the biggest market. 

In 2015, Vietnam exported $657 million worth of shrimp products to the country, while the figure was $364.8 million in the first seven months of the year, up by 16.3 percent.

As the demand was high, the US continued importing shrimp in large quantities in the first half of the year once the other supply sources – India, Indonesia, Ecuador and Thailand – all raised export prices due to raw material problems.

However, the US has recently imposed new anti-dumping duties on imports from Vietnam which are many times higher than previous rates.

The consignment of frozen shrimp from Vietnam entering the US market from February 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015 will bear the anti-dumping duty of 4.78 percent, much higher than the previously applied tax rate of 0.91 percent.

Minh Phu Seafood is the only exporter which can enjoy the tax rate of zero percent, while others all have to bear high tax rates.

The US has decided to impose new anti-dumping duties on Vietnam’s shrimp, five times higher than previous years and two to three times higher than duties imposed on Vietnam's competitors.

A gloomy future has been anticipated for Vietnamese shrimp exporters because they not only have to bear high tax rates, but also face a serious material shortage.  

As the material supply has lowered due to drought, the raw material price has soared by 39-50 percent. Vietnam’s export price to the US market is $1-2 per kilo higher than Thailand’s and India’s.

Le Van Quang, general director of Minh Phu Seafood, said the company has to import materials for processing as the domestic sources are insufficient.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), in the first six months of the year, Vietnam imported $485 million worth of materials from 75 countries and territories, 37 percent of which was shrimp.

Difficulties heap up

Tran Dinh Nam, director of Nam Ha Tinh Seafood Import/Export, which has been operational for the last 23 years, complained the company had never met such big difficulties before. Its output in the first six months of the year was just equal to 40 percent of the same period last year. 

The warning that Vietnam may lose the US market because of the high anti-dumping duties has worried exporters. 

Sources said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) have joined forces to explore new markets. High-ranking officials went to Australia recently to promote the export of shrimp as a whole to the market.