Recently, on April 8, 2022, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) issued the final decision on the duty rate in the case of the anti-dumping investigation on honey products imported from Argentina- tina, Brazil, India, and Vietnam.
According to this decision, the anti-dumping duty for Vietnamese enterprises has decreased sharply from 410.93% – 413.99% in the preliminary conclusion to 58.74% – 61.27%.
The decrease between the preliminary and final decision of the US Department of Commerce is nearly 7 times. Accordingly, this is a positive signal that the Vietnamese honey industry can continue to strive to achieve the optimal anti-dumping level and boost exports to the United States – one of the key markets of the Vietnamese honey industry.
This result is the clearest evidence of the outstanding efforts of Vietnamese honey producers and exporters in cooperating, completing the requirements, and coordinating with the investigating agencies, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, and the US Department of Commerce.
In particular, the role of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in the investigation of the case is the most important. During the investigation period, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has coordinated with other ministries and sectors and has repeatedly expressed its views to the US side, requesting the US to make an objective and fair assessment, strictly complying with the provisions of the World Trade Organization.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also highly appreciates and praises the fact that the DOC has actively listened, researched thoroughly from an objective point of view, and reached the final conclusion in the anti-dumping investigation with reasonable anti-dumping duty.
However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that this result still does not reflect the real status of the production and exportation of Vietnam’s honey to the US market.
Deeply reduce the anti-dumping duty on honey products in Vietnam
In the United States, there are two agencies involved in the anti-dumping investigation of honey products: the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) and the United States International Trade Commission (ITC).
Specifically, the Department of Commerce will determine the anti-dumping duty rate and the US International Trade Commission will determine the damage to the domestic industry.
The anti-dumping measure will officially take effect on the basis of the final conclusion and damage to the domestic industry. Currently, the ITC is investigating the damage and is expected to issue a final conclusion on May 23, 2022.
According to ITC statistics, the output of honey exported from Vietnam to the US in 2021 reached 56,133 tons with a turnover of about 82.1 million USD.
In order to continue to improve the situation of Vietnamese honey producers, in this particular case, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will continue to cooperate, contact and discuss with relevant ministries and branches, including the Vietnam Beekeeping Association and Vietnamese honey export enterprises, to consult with US agencies in the next stages which includes the damage assessment stage, anti-dumping duty review, etc. to come up with a feasible plan to continue to reduce anti-dumping duty rates, ensuring the legitimate interests of Vietnamese honey exporters.
Not only that, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is also implementing trade promotion activities to support honey processing enterprises to promote consumption in the domestic market as well as to access other markets, effectively exploiting the benefits of the Free Trade Agreements to which Vietnam has become a member of.
The final conclusions of the DOC can be downloaded here.
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