The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) late last week announced that the anti-dumping duty on Vietnamese shrimp shipped to the U.S. in an over-one-year period will be cut by roughly 86 percent, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP).

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According  to the preliminary results of the DOC’s ninth administrative review (POR9) for anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese shrimp, the body will cut the tax rate by 5.44 percentage points, from 6.37 percent to 0.93 percent, for products exported to the U.S. between January 2, 2013 and January 31, 2014, said VASEP.

Of the three Vietnamese mandatory respondents, DOC determined that two companies, Minh Phu and Thuan Phuoc, sold their products below cost and were subject to an anti-dumping tax rate of 1.5 percent and 1.06 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Sao Ta Co. has been determined not to be subject to any anti-dumping tax rate. Other Vietnamese shrimp exporters were subject to the general tax rate of 0.93 percent.

According to Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of VASEP, this is good news for those firms that will export their products to the U.S. in the near future because Vietnamese shrimp shipments to the North American country witnessed the fastest growth rate among its international rivals during that period.

In 2013, Vietnamese shrimp exports to the U.S. increased by 45.6 percent to 59,534 tons compared to a year earlier.

The main reason for the cuts in the POR9 tariffs is because three countries, including Bangladesh, India and Indonesia, were selected as replacement markets to calculate the costs of production and dumping rates at the same time.

"The country DOC selects to calculate the costs often has a great influence on the dumping duty imposed on Vietnamese firms," Hoe said.

These are only the preliminary results, and the final results will be announced by the DOC in September this year, he added.

After the official results of POR8, anti-dumping duties on frozen shrimp imported from Vietnam had an average rate of 6.37 percent, of which the highest tax rate was 25.76 percent and the lowest rate was 4.98 percent.

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