Vietnam’s basa cattish faces danger of anti-dumping lawsuit in Egypt

Vietnam’s basa catfish imported to Egypt now enjoys a tariff of 0% while the technical barrier such as quarantine, food safety check on Vietnamese catfish is relaxed as well. So the price of Vietnam’s basa is lower than Egypt’s processors.

Vietnamese seafood export to Egypt reached US$63 million in 2008, an over three fold increase year-on-year, of which the basa import turnover accounted for 87%.

Due to Russia recently halted imports of Vietnam’s basa catfish, large volume of stockpiled basa overflowed into Egypt, pulling down basa price in Egypt but causing a danger on anti-dumping lawsuit as well.

Last year Egypt imported 36,600 tonnes of basa worth US$55 million from Vietnam but the catfish price slumped from US$2,700 down to US$1,500 per tonne.

According to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, Vietnamese seafood processors should not increase exports to Egypt and need to stabilise export price to avoid an anti-dumping lawsuit from the foreign importer.

 

Category: Legal