Shrimp sector hopes to recover exports to US

Shrimp exports to the US are expected to recover in the remaining months of this year thanks to anti-dumping tariff reductions.

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has released the final results of the 9th period of review (POR 9) on anti-dumping tariffs imposed on Vietnamese frozen shrimp products from February 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014.

Accordingly, the average tariff dropped slightly to 0.91 percent from 0.93 percent as announced in the preliminary results in March 2015 but sharply from the 6.37 percent imposed in the POR 8.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the Minh Phu Seafood Corp bears the highest rate at 1.39 percent (this figure has been cut from the preliminary outcomes of 1.5 percent), Thuan Phuoc Corp at 1.16 percent (higher than the preliminary outcomes of 1.06 percent) and Sao Ta Foods JSC at zero percent.

Secretary-General of the VASEP Truong Dinh Hoe said the reduction in tariffs is partly due to the DOC calculation of the tariff rates based on appropriate data from three countries: Bangladesh, India and Indonesia.

With the new rate, Vietnamese shrimp exports to the US are expected to thrive after a remarkable 50 percent fall in the first eight months of this year.

Furthermore, contending with similar products, the reduction will help the shrimp industry to increase its competitiveness in the US market as many Vietnamese rivals such as India and Thailand are bearing higher tariff rates at 2.96 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

However, it is difficult to forecast the exact shrimp export outcomes in the remaining months of this year due to complicated consumption trends and exchange rates, Hoe said.

He added that the shrimp sector is facing competition from several countries, such as Indonesia and Ecuador, which do not have any anti-dumping tariffs.

The US is the biggest importer of Vietnam shrimp, spending 370 million USD from January-August 2015.-VNA