Socialist Republic of Vietnam

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) announced on May 6 that after a six-month period of examination they have not found enough evidence of apparel import dumping from Vietnam.

“After reviewing the second six months of data from the monitoring programme of apparel imports from Vietnam, there is insufficient evidence to warrant self-initiating and antidumping investigation,” the DOC said in the same day press release.

In the second probe conducted from August 2007 to January 2008, the DOC examined import data for five different apparel product groups from Vietnam, including trousers, shirts, underwear, swimwear and sweaters. No indication of dumping was been found, according to the press release.

The conclusion was further confirmed after the DOC made a comparison between prices of imports from Vietnam to those from other suppliers to the US, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, Cambodia, Macau, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Despite finding no visible threats to the domestic apparel companies from Vietnamese producers, the DOC said it would continue to monitor imports from Vietnam during the next six months for the next review slated to begin in September this year.

The reviews are part of a US programme to eliminate the practice of dumping, whereby a foreign producer sells products at a price far less than fair value, often the production cost or sale price in the producer country.

The monitoring programme commenced upon Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in January 2007 and is expected to continue for the duration of the Bush administration.

The DOC will conduct review every six months to find out whether there is sufficient evident to self-initiate an anti-dumping investigation of textile or apparel goods from the country.

(VNA)