Firms eluded catfish tax on Vietnam, U.S. says
Posted on Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Two Cambodian companies imported catfish into their Southeast Asian country from neighboring Vietnam before making U. S.-bound shipments as a way of avoiding American anti-dumping duties, the U. S. government said.
The U. S. Commerce Department set anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese catfish in 2003, with the initial tariffs ranging from 37 percent to 64 percent. Subsequent adjustments have widened the range, with one Vietnamese company receiving a 7 percent tariff and another facing an 81 percent tax.
The Catfish Farmers of America filed a petition in 2004 arguing that statistics demonstrated evasion of the anti-dumping duty. In its final determination, the U. S. Commerce Department found that Lian Heng Trading Co. Ltd. and Lian Heng Investment Co. Ltd. imported Vietnamese-origin live fish into Cambodia for processing into fillets before shipping them to the U. S.
“Frozen fish fillets processed in Cambodia by Lian Heng from Vietnamese-origin whole, live fish for export to the United States should be included in the anti-dumping duty order on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam,” the Commerce Department said in a Friday statement published in the U. S. Federal Register.
The department referred to both companies jointly since they share the same chairman and chief executive, according to the statement.
While applying retroactive duties of 64 percent to some of Lian Heng’s past shipments, the Commerce Department said it would permit Lian Heng to certify that no Vietnamese-origin fish — known in Vietnam as basa and tra — were used in the production of its frozen fish fillets for shipments after mid-July 2005.
Any shipments not so certified would be subject to a 64 percent duty, the Commerce Department said.
“If the Department of Commerce identifies any misrepresentation or inconsistencies regarding the certifications, it may report the matter to U. S. Customs and Border Protection for possible enforcement action,” the department said.
The ruling follows a “scope” request filed in 2004 by Louisiana-based Piazza Seafood World LLC, which imported catfish from Southeast Asia and asked for confirmation that frozen catfish fillets processed in Cambodia from fish raised in Vietnam wouldn’t be subject to anti-dumping duties.
In its scope request, Piazza argued that whole live fish raised in Vietnam and filleted, frozen and packaged in Cambodia should result in Cambodia being labeled the country of origin for the fish.
“There’s no consistency,” said Sal Piazza, who worked for Piazza Seafood World at the time of the scope request, and now works for Crazy Crawfish LLC, another Louisiana-based seafood importer.
“Right now the issue is Cambodia, but there is basa being raised in other countries in the region that could potentially be subject to the same duty,” Piazza said, citing China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand as examples. “It discourages me from buying basa from anywhere.”
The application of antidumping duties on Vietnamese catfish exports to the U. S. has forced Vietnam’s seafood companies to find new markets, with exporters benefiting this year from higher prices for Vietnamese basa and tra in countries including Belgium and Germany, the Vietnam News reported May 2.
Prices in Germany rose 30 percent over the same time a year earlier, according to the report.
Seafood products were Vietnam’s fourth-biggest export in the first half of this year following crude oil, garments and footwear, according to the country’s General Statistics Office, generating an estimated $ 1. 41 billion in revenue over the first six months.
Arkansas is the country’s No. 3 producer of farm-raised catfish, behind Mississippi and Alabama, in terms of number of operators, and is second only to Mississippi in terms of catfish water acreage, according to semiannual statistics released Feb. 1 by the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
The 11 U. S. catfish-producing states had 1, 035 catfish operations as of Jan. 1, 2006, and used 170, 370 water-surface acres during the preceding six months. U. S. catfish producers generated $ 482. 1 million in sales in 2005.
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