US drops anti-subsidy tax on Vietnamese frozen shrimp

HA NOI: The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has decided to cancel anti-subsidy measures against companies exporting frozen shrimp from Vietnam. The decision came after the USITC's six-member committee took a vote on the issue, with four members voicing their support for the cancellation on Friday. The import duty on Vietnamese shrimp which ranged from 1.15 per cent to 7.88 per cent as set by the US Department of Commerce has now been lifted. On August 13, the department announced it was introducing an anti-subsidy duty on Vietnamese frozen shrimp, reasoning that any subsidy would pose a threat to the US shrimp industry. This was a twin victory for Vietnamese shrimp exporters, Vietnam's commercial counsellor in the US Dao Tran Nhan said in an interview with the Viet Nam News Agency. On September 10, the department announced the results of a review on frozen warm-water shrimp from Vietnam. It found that Vietnamese businesses did not dump their shrimp products on the US market, undercutting domestic producers, during the February 2011 - January 2012 period. The outcome is that at all 33 Vietnamese shrimp exporters will now enjoy a zero import tax rate in the US and be refunded the taxes they paid earlier. The US is Vietnam's leading shrimp importer, contributing one quarter of the country's total shrimp export turnover of US$1.7 billion in the first eight months of this year. Vietnam ranks fifth among shrimp exporters to the US, earning $4.3 billion from the market last year.