The US Department of Commerce (DOC) on August 31 announced its affirmative preliminary determination in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation on imports of retail polyethylene carrier bags (plastic bags) from Vietnam .

The DOC said it preliminarily finds subsidisation of polyethylene retail carrier bags from Vietnam and preliminarily determined that the three mandatory respondents Advance Polybag, Chin Sheng Company, Ltd., and Fotai Vietnam Enterprise Corp. received preliminary subsidy rates of 0.20 de minimis, 1.69 percent, and 4.24 percent, respectively.

All other exporters from Vietnam received a preliminary subsidy rate of 2.97 percent, it added.

The DOC's preliminary determination in the CVD investigation on Vietnam's plastic bags was released after the two US companies, namely Hilex Poly Co., LLC, and Superbag Corporation, filed a petition on March 31 with both the DOC and the US International Trade Commission (ITC), alleging that an industry in the US was materially injured by reason of subsidised plastic bags imported from Vietnam as well as those from Indonesia and Taiwan. This is the first CVD investigation involving Vietnam .

The DOC is currently scheduled to issue its final determination on January 11, 2010 and the ITC will make its final determination 45 days after.

The placing of orders may take place only in the event of final affirmative determinations by both the DOC and the ITC.

In 2008, the US imported about 79 million USD worth of such bags from Vietnam./.