The figures are shown in the latest survey conducted by Professor Doctor Vo Thanh Thu, a member of the Vietnam International Arbitration Council. Results of the survey were released at a recent workshop on the EU’s and US’ anti-dumping regulations.

Over the last 13 years, according to Thu, the products which were the main subjects of the anti-dumping lawsuits were chemicals, steel, footwear, electronics, seafood and garment products.

The countries which most often sued others in anti-dumping lawsuits were also the countries which were sued most. Since 1995, the world has witnessed 43 countries raising 3,427 goods anti-dumping lawsuits. The percentage of losing cases was 63.76 percent.

Vietnamese businesses do not have the habit of initiating lawsuits against others. By July 2009, it had been sued in 39 cases, but it had not raised any lawsuit against others.

Thu has pointed out that Vietnam’s exports are potential targets of anti-dumping lawsuits. She said that Vietnam’s exports are relying heavily on some markets, which may bring risks as production will be severely hurt if there are changes in the export markets.

The current seven biggest export markets of Vietnam are the US, Japan, China, Australia, Singapore, Germany and the UK. Vietnam is focusing on exporting nine products which is considers its main export items. These have high growth rates and make up 70 percent of export turnover.

Vietnam ranks 39^th in the world in the highest export growth rates. Its export growth rate is 20 percent per annum on average, while the world’s average growth rate is 6-8 percent only.

Vietnam-made goods could easily become the subject of anti-dumping lawsuits also because the country mainly exports raw materials and products which do not go through much processing, and thus always have low prices.

Vietnam is witnessing an imbalance in trade with key export markets. In relations with the US, Vietnam’s exports to the market are eight times bigger than the imports from the market. Vietnam’s exports to Germany and the UK are two times bigger than the imports from the markets. As for Australia, Vietnam also exports five times more than it imports.

According to Thu, besides ASEAN and China, Vietnam is witnessing a trade surplus with remaining markets.

In fact, many product items which were sued in anti-dumping lawsuits were not Vietnam-made products. They were China-made goods which were brought to Vietnam in order to avoid high tax, or were processed a little in Vietnam before they were shipped to the import countries.

What to do to deal with lawsuits?

Thu believes that if Vietnamese enterprises are sued in anti-dumping lawsuits, the Government should not get involved in dealing with the cases, while these should be the ‘stories’ of enterprises.

Associations always need to play the supporting role in helping enterprises deal with lawsuits, while enterprises should join actively in the investigation process and they should understand that the cooperation will bring positive results.

Thu has suggested that government agencies should regulate the exports to different markets, a task which cannot be done by enterprises as they do not have enough information about export markets and price fluctuations in the world.

If necessary, Thu said, it is advisable to limit exports at certain levels in order to avoid anti-dumping lawsuits. Under current laws, only when imports are too big and may severely affect the production of domestic enterprises are lawsuits raised to protect domestic production.

Source: VietNamNet/TBKTVN