Việt Nam steel sheet products accounted for over 60 per cent of Indonesian total imports. — Photo congthuong.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Trade Remedies Authority of Việt Nam (TRAV) recently sent a letter opposing Indonesia's draft conclusions of an anti-dumping investigation on colour-coated steel sheet products imported from Việt Nam and China.

In the draft conclusions announced by the Indonesian Anti-Dumping Committee (KADI) on July 30, KADI said steel sheet imports from Việt Nam were dumped in Indonesia, causing losses to the domestic steel industry. 

Upon hearing the news, TRAV analysed KADI’s documents and discussed the matter with relevant firms.

TRAV suggested KADI use data provided by the Vietnamese firms which fully co-operated with KADI during the investigation.
The authority said several conclusions have yet to reflect realities such as issues related to value-added tax and overlaps in calculations.

It also proposed KADI reconsider the calculation method with factors taken into account in line with World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations.

TRAV also co-ordinated with the Vietnamese Trade Office in Indonesia to prepare documents and attend an open consultation session on the case scheduled for August 18.

Earlier, in July 2014, Indonesia applied a global safeguard measure to Việt Nam's cold steel sheets with a width of 600mm or more, significantly affecting Vietnamese businesses as exports from Việt Nam accounted for more than 60 per cent of Indonesia's total imports of the product.

After more than four years of struggle, by the end of March 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade succeeded in reclaiming the rights of Vietnamese cold steel enterprises in the case of Indonesia's global safeguard measures.

According to the Việt Nam Steel Association (VSA), in the structure of the export market, Vietnamese steel exported to Southeast Asia accounts for 60 per cent of total export volume. The remaining imports are from Europe, America, Australia and the Asia-Europe Economic Union.

However, the door to the local steel exports has been in danger of being narrowed as a series of key export markets such as the US, EU, Australia, some countries in the ASEAN region and the Eurasian Economic Union have initiated trade defence lawsuits. — VNS