Workshop looks into Vietnam’s first successful anti-dumping case   Illustrative image (photo:VNA) Vietnam levied anti-dumping duties on stainless steel products from four economies for the first time ever, a move that was hotly discussed during a workshop in Hanoi recently. The Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said the steel manufacturers of mainland China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan (China) had shown signs of dumping their products in the Vietnamese market, bringing heavy losses to the domestic steel industry. The duties on steel imports from these markets will be enforced from October 5 onwards. According to the VCA, the tariffs, ranging from 3.07 – 37.29 percent, will not harm importing companies or the domestic market. During the workshop, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association Nguyen Van Sua said Vietnamese firms are in fact capable of meeting the domestic stainless steel demand, but a majority of them are not working at full capacity due to fierce competition from imported products from these four economies. Vietnamese enterprises have the right to request anti-dumping investigations into foreign companies, which is an internationally legitimate measure, he added. Pham Chau Giang from the VCA said the imposition of anti-dumping taxes do not aim to protect domestic production but rather create a fair competition environment. The VCA said there have been approximately 100 trade cases against Vietnamese products in recent years, including just under 50 anti-dumping cases. This year alone, the country faced a number of anti-dumping cases, including those against oil pipes, bicycle tyres, and steel products. Vietnamese companies themselves, however, have not paid much attention to trade remedy measures and rarely included these in their business strategies, she said. Sharing view with Giang, Sua said domestic steel firms are still passive in providing data and information to assist investigations. He urged them to play a more active role in preparing files and cooperating with authorised agencies to protect their own interests. Meanwhile, State bodies also need to improve their professional capacity to deal with trade disputes, he noted.-VNA