Tiếng Việt
中文 (中国)
日本語
On June 7, 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced its preliminary determination in the 19th administrative review (POR19) of the anti-dumping duty (ADD) order on frozen warmwater shrimp from Vietnam. The review covers exports to the U.S. during the period from February 1, 2023, to January 31, 2024.
This preliminary determination carries significant implications for Vietnam’s seafood industry, particularly given that the U.S. remains one of the primary export markets for Vietnamese shrimp. The current review involves 24 Vietnamese exporters that timely submitted separate rate applications and were accepted by the DOC. Among them, two companies were selected as mandatory respondents.
Preliminary Determination and Provisional Dumping Margins
According to the DOC’s findings, among the two mandatory respondents:
- One company received a 0% anti-dumping duty rate;
- The other was assigned a 35.29% rate.
The higher rate results from the DOC’s finding that the company failed to fully cooperate during the investigation. As a result, the DOC applied adverse facts available (AFA) to determine certain costs, leading to an inflated dumping margin. This represents a negative outcome, especially in light of the U.S. government’s increasing reliance on trade remedy measures to protect its domestic industries.
Pursuant to WTO rules and U.S. trade remedy regulations, a 0% rate assigned to a mandatory respondent cannot be used to calculate the weighted-average separate rate for other cooperating exporters.
Therefore, the DOC used the 35.29% rate from the second mandatory respondent as the basis to determine the separate rate for the remaining 22 companies, using a weighted-average methodology that excludes de minimis margins, zero rates, and AFA-based rates. Meanwhile, companies that did not submit separate rate applications remain subject to the Vietnam-wide rate of 25.67%, unchanged from the previous review.
Surrogate Country and Cost Calculation Basis
In this review, the DOC continues to use Indonesia as the primary surrogate country for calculating normal value. Indonesia was selected based on its:
- Comparable level of economic development to Vietnam;
- Significant production of similar merchandise; and
- Availability of reliable and contemporaneous data.
However, for certain factors of production such as shrimp larvae, the DOC opted to use data from India as a substitute source.
To protect their legitimate interests, manufacturers and exporters should familiarize themselves with the procedure and actively contact Vietnamese law firms specializing in anti-dumping and trade remedy for timely assistance.
ASL Law is a leading full-service and independent Vietnamese law firm made up of experienced and talented lawyers. ASL Law is ranked as the top tier Law Firm in Vietnam by Legal500, Asia Law, WTR, and Asia Business Law Journal. Based in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, the firm’s main purpose is to provide the most practical, efficient and lawful advice to its domestic and international clients. If we can be of assistance, please email to [email protected].
ASL LAW is the top-tier Vietnam law firm for Anti-dumping & countervailing. If you need any advice, please contact us for further information or collaboration.
