October 26, 2013
A recent official determination of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has exempted Vietnamese shrimp from anti-dumping tax and anti-subsidy lawsuits. This decision has opened up a great opportunity of boosting shrimp exports in the coming time for Vietnam.
Late last month, ITC announced that frozen warm-water shrimp imports from Vietnam and four other countries, namely China, Ecuador, Malaysia and India, did not affect the U.S. shrimp in industry as previously condemned by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). The ITC ruling also means shrimp imported from Vietnam and these four countries do not face U.S. anti-subsidy duties.
Elaborating on the ruling, Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, deputy head of the legislation department at the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said anti-subsidy measures would only be adopted when DOC detects affirmative subsidization and ITC concludes such an act inflicted a significant damage. Therefore, the case has ended after ITC asserted Vietnamese shrimp exports to the U.S. did not cause any significant damage.
“ITC’s determination is based on a vote (not solely based on calculations with specific numbers like DOC’s) and so voters nay be affected by political factors. Even so, there is no evidence showing ITC members are pressured to vote in favor of Vietnam,” Trang added.
With ITC canceling the anti-subsidy lawsuit against Vietnamese shrimp export, local shrimp exporters will retrieve the deposits temporarily collected by the U.S. customs from the day DOC’s preliminary determination was released (in late May) to the day ITC’s conclusion came out.
In addition to anti-subsidy duty, the anti-dumping tariff on Vietnamese shrimps was virtually cut down to zero (on September 10) under DOC’s final determination for seventh period of review (POR7) effective from February 1, 2011 to December 31, 2012.
POR7 comes up with 32, the largest number of businesses enjoying an anti-dumping rate of 0% including both mandatory and voluntary respondents. (The tax rate on voluntary respondents is calculated based on the rate on mandatory respondents since DOC only investigates mandatory enterprises).
Opportunities come up
The lifting of the trade barriers has prompted the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) to raise its forecast for this year’s shrimp exports from US$2.5 billion to US$ 2.6 billion, a year-on-year jump of 12 – 16%, and up US$ 100 – 200 million from the target set early this year.
VASEP’s higher target also stems from the strong rebound in import demand of some major markets, particularly the U.S.
In the first eight months of 2013, Vietnamese shrimp export to the U.S. soared 52.4% (equivalent to US$ 445 million) over the same period last year. In August alone, shrimp export to the main markets posted substantial growth, with export to the U.S. up nearly 146%, Japan 23%, the EU 54.5% and South Korea 96.2% year-on-year.
Shrimp farming in Jan – Sept. 2013Vietnam’s total shrimp production was 4.5 million tons in the first nine months, up 2.7% year-on-year, of which farming accounted for 2.4 million tons (up 2.1%), according to the Directorate of Fisheries. Vietnam earned VND131,350 billion (around US$6.25 billion) from shrimp export, up 3.4% year-on-year, including VND80,068 billion (US$3.81 billion) from farming.
(Source: chinhphu.vn)
Another ground for a breakthrough of Vietnam’s shrimp export involves the significant output reduction in the major shrimp exporting countries, especially Thailand, due to early mortality syndrome (EMS). Statistics of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) say shrimp exports from China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand accounted for 70% of the world’s total imports in 2011. However, it is predicted that shrimp production in Thailand this year will sharply drop to 270,000 tons from 485,000 tons in 2012.
As for China, the annual shrimp output before EMS broke out (in 2009) was often higher than 1.5 million tons. Now, its shrimp production has fallen below 1.5 million tons per year. Thus, China is forced to import shrimp from India, Ecuador and Vietnam (via both official and unofficial channels) to meet the demand for processing and export.
Meanwhile, raw shrimp supply in Vietnam, especially in the Mekong Delta, is not abundant, fully able to meet the export demand. As per statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of end-August, tiger prawn production in Long An had reached 1,390 tons, up 8.7% over the same period last year, while white-legged shrimp output had reached about 11,400 tons, up to 25,3%. In Soc Trang, tiger prawn shrimp production had picked up 24.8% (amounting to 10,300 ton), while white-legged shrimp output had surged 2.3 times (hitting 18,700 tons). In Bac Lieu, over 37,330 tons of tiger prawn had been produced, while white-legged shrimp output had grown 3.4 times (reaching 6,920 tons).
The much higher import demand among the key markets and falling outputs of major exporting countries, plus sharply rising Vietnamese shrimp production as well as the U.S. market underlie better opportunities for Vietnam shrimp export in the coming time.
Vietnam’s shrimp outlookPham Anh Tuan, deputy head of Directorate of Fisheries, said last year, brackish-water shrimp was raised in 30 cities and provinces across Vietnam on of 67,532 hectares, up 0.2%. The total output reached 476,424 tons, down 3.9% year-on-year. Tiger prawn accounted for 94.1% of the total shrimp farming area and 62.7% of the total output of the country. The corresponding figures for white-leg shrimp were 5.9% and 27.3% respectively.The Mekong Delta was the cradle of Vietnam’s brackish-water shrimp. With total farming area of 595,723 hectares, the delta accounts for 90.61% of the total farming area of the country and 75.2% of the 358,477 ton output in 2012. Up to 579,997 hectares (93.6%) was for raising tiger prawn, with output of 280,647 tons (94%); the corresponding figures for white-leg shrimp were 15,727 hectares (42.1%) and 77,830 tons (42%).
(Source: Tien Giang Province portal)
(By Trung Chanh)