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Stainless steel products imported from China will be imposed anti-dumping tariffs. — Photo thitruongtaichinh
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HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Ministry of Industry and Trade has decided to temporarily impose anti-dumping tariffs ranging from 6.45 per cent to 30.73 per cent on stainless steel products imported from China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan from January 25, 2014.
An anti-dumping tariff rate of between 6.45 per cent and 6.99 per cent will be levied on stainless steel products from China, while a tariff rate of 12.03 per cent will be imposed on items from Indonesia. Malaysian products will attract an anti-dumping tariff rate of 14.38 per cent, while products from Taiwan will attract a rate of between 13.23 per cent and 30.73 per cent.
At present, cold-rolled steel products imported into Viet Nam attract zero to 10 per cent import tax based on their origin. The zero percent tax rate applies to products from China and the ASEAN nations in compliance with commitments made by Viet Nam under ASEAN Free Trade Agreements.
In July, the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) initiated an anti-dumping investigation into stainless steel imports at the requests of Posco VST and Hoa Binh Inox, who urged the imposition of anti-dumping duties on stainless steel imported from the above-mentioned countries.
Posco VST, the biggest stainless steel manufacturer with an annual output of 235,000 tonnes, had claimed it was incurring losses as it was competing with cheap imported products. Posco VST and Hoa Binh Inox, therefore, had lodged their complaints at the VCA, demanding anti-dumping tariffs of between 20 per cent and 40 per cent against imported stainless steel products.
The VCA's preliminary conclusion was that the steel products imported from the above-mentioned countries showed signs of dumping in the Vietnamese market and were forcing the domestic steel industry to suffer heavy losses.
In an interview with online newspaper thesaigontimes earlier this month, Dinh Huy Tam, an expert in the steel industry and the former general secretary of the Vietnam Steel Association, said Posco VST and Hoa Binh Inox accounted for 80 per cent of the market in the country.
Tam noted that the increasing quantities of imported stainless steel at unfair prices had adversely affected domestic production and pushed local manufacturers into a difficult situation.
"As for the domestic steel industry, this is the first time that Viet Nam will apply anti-dumping measure to protect local steel producers. I think it is a good step for local manufacturers and the State management agency," added Tam. — VNS