On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) announced that it was initiating a changed circumstances review (CCR) related to the antidumping duty order on raw honey from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In the CCR, Commerce will consider whether Vietnam should no longer be treated as a non-market economy (NME) country for the purposes of antidumping duty law. The government of Vietnam argues that it has taken steps to establish a market economy and should no longer be treated the same as other NME countries (i.e. China and Russia) that export goods to the United States.
Any decision made by Commerce to treat Vietnam as a market economy for the purposes of the antidumping duty order on raw honey would impact all other antidumping duty orders covering goods and merchandise imported from Vietnam. Accordingly, in addition to the objections submitted to Commerce by representatives of the U.S. raw honey industry (the American Honey Producers Association and the Sioux Honey Association), several other U.S. industries expressed their opposition to the government of Vietnam’s request.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance, the Catfish Farmers of America, and the American Shrimp Processors Association each filed separate letters to Commerce observing that Vietnam unquestionably remains an NME. The Southern Shrimp Alliance noted that in the current eighteenth (18th) administrative review of the antidumping duty order on frozen warmwater shrimp from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, no Vietnamese exporter subject to the review has argued that it operates independently from the Vietnamese government. In result, all of the Vietnamese companies in that review will be assigned the Vietnamese-wide entity antidumping duty rate of 25.76 percent.
Beyond the seafood industry organizations, opposition to the government of Vietnam’s request was voiced by various steel and wood product industry associations and members, including the Steel Manufacturers Association, the Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood, the American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance, the Coalition of American Millwork Producers, the Metal Grating Coalition, and Steel Dynamics Inc.
Nevertheless, despite widespread objections from U.S. industries, Commerce has launched an administrative proceeding to evaluate whether Vietnam should now be considered a market economy. Commerce has afforded domestic industries that have been harmed by Vietnamese imports just thirty days after the publication of the agency’s initiation notice in the Federal Register on October 30th to submit evidence and argument in opposition to the government of Vietnam’s request.
While this inquiry potentially impacts the antidumping duty order on Vietnamese shrimp, it has no bearing on the petition filed Wednesday by the American Shrimp Processors Association for the imposition of a countervailing duty order on subsidized Vietnamese shrimp.
Read the Southern Shrimp Alliance’s October 19th Letter to Commerce opposing the government of Vietnam’s request for a changed circumstances review related to the antidumping duty order on raw honey from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SSA-Comments-on-Vietnam-NME.pdf
Read the Catfish Farmers of America’s October 19th Letter to Commerce opposing the government of Vietnam’s request for a changed circumstances review related to the antidumping duty order on raw honey from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/CFA-Opposition-to-GOV-NME-CCR.pdf
Read the American Shrimp Processors Association, the American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance, and Steel Dynamics Inc.’s joint October 20th Letter to Commerce opposing the government of Vietnam’s request for a changed circumstances review related to the antidumping duty order on raw honey from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Schagrin-Opposition-to-GOV-NME-CCR.pdf
Read a pre-publication version of the Federal Register notice announcing the initiation of a changed circumstances review of the antidumping duty order on raw honey from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Initiation-Notice-for-CCR-Honey.pdf