US issues preliminary decision on anti-dumping tariffs for Vietnamese shrimp

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) in the early morning of June 7 released preliminary results of its 19th administrative review (POR19) on anti-dumping duties for frozen warmwater shrimp imported from Vietnam.

The figures cover the period from February 1, 2023, to January 31, 2024, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) reported.

According to VASEP, the DOC determined that Thong Thuan Co., including its Cam Ranh branch, did not sell shrimp below fair value, resulting in a zero dumping margin for the company.

However, STAPIMEX was preliminarily assigned a high dumping rate of 35.29%. This rate was also applied to 22 other companies with separate rate status that were not selected as mandatory respondents, departing from the usual practice of using a weighted average of the mandatory respondents’ rates.

The VASEP and affected companies expressed surprise and deep concern over the unusually high preliminary rate.

"In the 19 years that Vietnam has participated in the administrative reviews of the anti-dumping case, no company has ever been subjected to a double-digit preliminary duty," the association said in a statement.

It added that the high rate echoes a previous incident during the 12th review when a 25.76% preliminary rate assigned to FIMEX was later corrected to 4.58% due to calculation errors.

VASEP and the involved enterprises suspect that errors or misunderstandings may have affected the current preliminary findings.

STAPIMEX, confident in its detailed accounting records, plans to promptly submit additional evidence. Both VASEP and the company remain hopeful that the final decision, expected in December 2025, will more accurately reflect the true nature of Vietnamese shrimp exports and confirm that dumping has not occurred.

Although the preliminary findings are not final, the announcement has already unsettled US importers, disrupted trade plans, and shaken the confidence of Vietnamese shrimp farmers, VASEP said, adding that this development comes amid the US administration’s broader high reciprocal tariff policies targeting Vietnam and other countries, adding further challenges for the industry.

VASEP has urged the DOC to thoroughly review and reconsider its preliminary calculations, stressing the importance of fairness, consistency with past reviews, and safeguarding the legitimate interests of Vietnamese seafood exporters to ensure stable trade relations between the two nations.