Vietnam’s steel products are being sold at low prices, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs has initially determined that the Taiwanese factory has suffered substantial damage.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs held a trade remedy review meeting today (12th). The meeting reviewed the preliminary investigation results of my country’s industrial damage to Vietnam’s anti-dumping case of specific cold-rolled stainless steel flat-rolled steel products and determined that there were reasonable signs that the domestic industry had suffered substantial damage. Subsequently, the Ministry of Finance will be asked to conduct a dumping investigation.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that during the period covered by the investigation data of this case (January 2020 to June 2015), Vietnam's import volume of specific cold-rolled stainless steel flat-rolled steel products increased significantly from 2013 to 2014, and the import prices dropped year by year, and were all lower than the domestic sales price of domestic products. In order to compete with them, domestic products had to follow up with price reductions, and the price reduction was even greater than that of the goods involved. However, because the domestic sales price was still higher than the dumped goods involved, customers were lost. Even when my country's demand increased, there was no improvement. As a result, market share continued to decline, domestic sales losses expanded, and domestic industry operating conditions continued to deteriorate. It was not until the applicant announced that it was about to apply for anti-dumping investigation between January and June 2015, and the price difference narrowed, that various economic indicators of the domestic industry, including domestic sales losses, did not continue to worsen. The above shows that the dumped import of specific cold-rolled stainless steel flat-rolled steel products in Vietnam has adversely affected the domestic industry.

According to the "Implementation Measures for the Imposition of Balance Tax and Anti-dumping Duty", the investigation of anti-dumping cases in my country is handled by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which are respectively responsible for "dumping" investigations and "damage" investigations. The procedure is to first conduct a preliminary investigation of industrial damage by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. If it is determined that dumping is established, it will be transferred to the Ministry of Finance to conduct a "preliminary" and "final" investigation of dumping. If the "final" investigation determines that dumping is established, the Ministry of Economic Affairs will then conduct a "final" investigation of industrial damage, and ultimately it will be handed over to the Ministry of Finance to decide whether to impose anti-dumping duties.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that after notifying the Ministry of Finance of the results of the preliminary investigation and determination of industrial damage, the Ministry of Finance should make a preliminary determination of whether there is dumping within 70 days from the day after the notification is sent, and decide whether to temporarily impose anti-dumping duties.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that if a "final" investigation of industrial damage is required in this case, the Ministry of Economic Affairs will further understand and verify the domestic industry situation, and collect opinions from all parties on the impact of anti-dumping duties on the country's overall economic interests such as downstream industries, and provide reference to the Ministry of Finance's tariff rate review group. At that time, it does not exclude any additional different facts and analysis that may lead to different conclusions.