A U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) investigation has found multiple exporters of pangasius fillets from Vietnam, including Bien Dong and Vinh Hoan, did not commit any dumping of products into the U.S. market.
As a result, they will not be subject to any antidumping duties, according to a DOC report sent to SeafoodSource.
The report, slated to be posted to the Federal Register imminently, found between 1 August 2022 and 31 July 2023, Vietnamese exporters under review did not sell pangasius fillets below normal value. Antidumping duties come into effect when DOC investigations find companies sold products to the U.S. for less than they would have sold them domestically.
The investigation covered frozen pangasius fillets – including regular, shank, and strip fillets, from the companies. Excluded from the investigation were frozen whole fish, frozen steaks, and frozen belly-flap nuggets.
The agency initiated the administrative review on 18 October 2023, and reviewed two companies as mandatory respondents – Bien Dong and Vinh Hoan – and six additional companies that sought a separate antidumping rate: Can Tho Import Export Seafood Joint Stock Company, Dai Thanh Seafoods Company Limited, Dong A Seafood One Member Company Limited, HungCa 6 Corporation, Nam Viet Corporation, and NTSF Seafoods Joint Stock Company.
An investigation into placing antidumping duties on all Vietnamese pangasius fillets was withdrawn after the DOC determined one of the companies requesting it – Middletown, Delaware, U.S.A.-based Luscious Seafood LLC – did not qualify as a U.S. wholesaler of a domestic product similar to the products under review. The other petitioners requesting the review – which included Catfish Farmers of America and individual U.S. catfish processors – withdrew their review request for Vietnam.
Other reviews were conducted at the behest of the companies themselves, with letters from Bien Dong, Can Tho Import Export Seafood Joint Stock Company, Dong A Seafood One Membe Co., Dai Thanh Seafoods Company Limited, HungCa 6 Corporation, and NTSF Seafoods Joint Stock Company all requesting the DOC take a second look at antidumping duties previously applied to the companies.
With the Vietnam-wide investigation withdrawn, the DOC focused on the eight companies pushing for a separate antidumping rate, and declated the weighted-average dumping margin for each company to be zero – meaning none of the companies will have additional duties applied to exports to the U.S.
That finding is good news for Can Tho Import-Export Seafood Joint Stock Company, as it was previously assigned a separate margin of USD 0.18 (EUR 0.16) per kilogram in 2022.
All Vietnamese pangasius exporters not entitled to a separate rate – companies that were not specifically investigated – will continue to face the USD 2.39 (EUR 2.16) antidumping duty that covers the whole of Vietnam.
The U.S. DOC upheld that finding in 2022, and according to the document, the rate will still be applied “for all Vietnamese exporters of subject merchandise that have not been found to be entitled to a separate rate.”
The DOC’s findings are still preliminary, and once they are posted to the Federal Register, the U.S. DOC has 120 days from publication to issue a final determination.
