The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has reduced anti-dumping duties on frozen char fillets from Vietnam following its latest preliminary findings, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

The U.S. government daily Federal Register recently published the preliminary results of the DOC's 19th administrative review (POR19) of antidumping duties on August 1 to July 2021 shipments of Vietnamese frozen char fillets to the United States. VASEP reported on Tuesday for the December 31, 2022 period.

Accordingly, two compulsory respondents - Vinh Hoan Corporation (commonly known as Pangasius Queen) in Dong Thap Province and Can Tho City Import and Export Seafood Joint Stock Company (Caseamex) in Can Tho City - are subjected to the anti-dumping duty on frozen fish fillets for the period of 12/31/2022, VASEP reported Tuesday. Caseamex) - imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties on their products , at US$0 and US$0.14 per kilogram, respectively.

Other voluntary respondents include IDI International Development and Investment Company (Dong Thap), Cafatex Fisheries Joint Stock Company (Hau Giang Province), Loc Kim Chi Seafood Joint Stock Company (Vinh Long Province), and Hung Vuong Company (Tien Giang Province) , also applying the same duty rate of $0.14 per kilogram.

All of these locations are located in the Mekong Delta region.

VASEP said that the above duty rates are lower than the final conclusion of the last review (POR18) and commented that the duty reduction will revitalize the positive outlook for Vietnamese balsa fish for U.S. exporters in the future.

The association said that anti-dumping duties have long been a major trade obstacle for Vietnamese catfish exports to the US, but the US market remains the largest importer of the commodity as well as seafood from Southeast Asian countries.

Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said an inspection team from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) last month highly valued Vietnam's food safety control system for U.S. cha fish exports.

The FSIS team, which worked in Vietnam from August 7 to 22, assessed the efficiency of the system through various inspections and rated highly almost all the facilities they visited, except for minor technical errors found at some farms and businesses, the ministry said.

Last year, revenues from cha fish exports to the US amounted to US$537.2 million, accounting for 22 percent of Vietnam's total cha fish exports.

However, as of August 15 this year, Vietnam's balsa fish exports to the US amounted to only US$169 million, down 59% year-on-year.

The association explained that the drop was caused by a number of unfavorable factors, including high inflation in the US economy, the risk of recession, and high stockpiles of cha fish by US importers.

According to local exporters, the US is one of the markets where imports of balsa from Vietnam have dropped significantly so far this year.

However, VASEP believes that demand for seafood and catfish will heat up again in the foreseeable future, especially in the US.

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