US denies 1,197 shipments from Vietnam due to Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

The U.S. has denied 1,197 shipments worth $220.3 million from Vietnam from June 2022 to November 2023 due to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

According to latest data until December 4, 2023, regarding banned shipments from Vietnam, the peak was $44.7 million in August 2022 and $35.6 million in November 2022.

In the latest months per U.S. CBP data, the values of banned shipments were $0.7 million in August 2023, $0.1 million in September 2023, $1.3 million in October 2023, and $0.1 million in November 2023.

Regarding the number of denied shipments, industrial and manufacturing materials accounted for the biggest portion with 614; followed by electronics (357); apparel, footwear and textile (224); consumer products and mass merchandising (1); and machinery (1).

Overall, the U.S. CBP has checked 2,128 shipments from Vietnam worth $571.86 million so far, of which 1,197 shipments were denied, 635 were released, and the remaining were pending results.

For global performance, the U.S. CBP has checked 6,315 shipments so far. The value for Vietnam was the second-highest one, behind Malaysia (1,623 shipments worth $1.17 billion).

Other key top figures were China with 2,160 shipments worth $281.45 million and Thailand with 283 shipments worth $157.86 million.

The UFLPA was enacted on December 23, 2021, with a June 21, 2022 effective date for a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in Xinjiang of China, or by an entity on the UFLPA Entity List are prohibited from U.S. importation.

The prohibition applies unless the U.S. CBP determines that the goods, wares, articles, or merchandise were not produced using forced labor or that UFLPA does not apply to the goods, wares, or merchandise seeking to be entered into the U.S.

In 2023, Vietnam earned an estimated export turnover of $355.5 billion, down 4.4% year-on-year as external demand weakened. In terms of export market, the U.S. remained at the top, with a value of $96.8 billion, followed by China with $61.7 billion, and the EU with $44.1 billion.

Vietnam’s trade surplus with the U.S. dwindled 12.6% year-on-year to circa $83 billion, and with the EU down 7.6% to $29.1 billion.