According to DOC, the department analysed the data of the imports of five groups of apparel products from Vietnam, and found out that 317/486 categories did not see Vietnamese imports in the six months. The products of other categories saw high growth rates, but no evidence of dumping was found.

This is the first conclusion DOC has made since the US side kicked off the apparel import monitoring programme in early 2007.

Commenting about the DOC’s announcement, Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) Le Quoc An said: “They (DOC) cannot say any other thing,” stressing that this conclusion was foreseeable.

However, Mr An said that the announcement has not satisfied the Vietnamese side. Prior to that, Vietnam asked the US to either remove the monitoring scheme, or narrow the subjects to be monitored. However, the request has not been answered, with the US side still maintaining it will keep the monitoring scheme until the end of 2008.

Mr An said that Vitas would still have to work with the US side to stop the monitoring work. The US side only has the right to follow these works if it can show that the US domestic industry has been influenced by apparel imports from Vietnam.

In fact, Vietnam mainly exports products which the US industry does not make. Vietnam’s apparel exports to the US prove to be modest if compared with products imported from India and China, and it would be unfair if the US only imposes the monitoring scheme on Vietnamese apparel.

The second conclusion about apparel imports from Vietnam is expected to be released in March 2008, regarding imports from Vietnam from June 2007 to January 2008.

Mr An said that with the conclusion, US importers will feel more secure when placing orders with Vietnamese apparel producers, while domestic producers will also feel more secure when making products for the US market.

However, the fact that the US still unilaterally applies the monitoring scheme on Vietnam’s apparel exports will still cause bad impacts on Vietnam’s garment industry. It is the right time for US importers to seek producers and place orders for 2008, and they may still fear that DOC will release a disadvantageous conclusion in March 2008.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam has called on garment companies to ‘protect themselves’ by seriously following the self-control mechanism on apparel exports to the US.

Vietnam expects to export $6.4bil worth of apparel products by the end of October 2007. Half of the export turnover came from the US market, and the figure is expected to reach $4.25bil this year, an increase of 40% over 2006.

DOC’s statement about no evidence of Vietnam dumping apparel in the US has been released right before the US Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez’s visit to Vietnam early next month. This would be the first trade promotion visit by the US cabinet led by a secretary of commerce since Vietnam officially joined the WTO.

Source: Lao dong, VNE