Commerce not initiating antidumping action against Vietnam clothing

Commerce not initiating antidumping action against Vietnam clothing U.S. Commerce Department said last week it will not self-initiate antidumping investigations of any of the apparel products from Vietnam whose import levels it has been monitoring since the beginning of this year.
   The department said after a “fair and objective analysis” of the first six months of data from the monitoring program it has found insufficient evidence that any of these goods are being dumped on the U.S. market.
   However, the Commerce Department said it will initiate another review of the import data next March and could decide to launch antidumping proceedings at that point if warranted by the circumstances.
   According to a press release, Commerce examined import data for five different textile product groups — trousers, shirts, underwear, swimwear and sweaters — from Vietnam during January to July 2007.
   The department made its decision after comparing trends in unit values and import levels to other suppliers of these products such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, members of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, the Philippines, Malaysia, Macau and Cambodia.
   The U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel. said the decision was “welcomed by U.S. importers and retailers” but the group condemned the continuation of the monitoring program, calling it “unjustified and unfair.”
   “We’re pleased that the administration agreed with us that that there is no basis for initiating any antidumping investigations against Vietnamese-made apparel,” said Laura E. Jones, the group’s executive director.
   “What the data shows and what administration should have announced,” Jones said, “is that the program is unjustified. This was an opportunity for the Commerce Department to cancel the apparel monitoring program, or at the very least remove many of these products from the program. The harassment of the trade by holding a false cloud over sourcing from Vietnam is doing nothing to help U.S. textile manufacturers.”
   Vietnam Bridge, a government Web site, said 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 United States.
   It said Vietnam expects to export $6.4 billion worth of apparel products by the end of October. Half of the export turnover came from the U.S. market, and the figure is expected to reach $4.25 billion this year, a 40 percent increase over 2006.