The United States Issues Preliminary Conclusions in the Antidumping Investigation of Extruded Aluminum and Aluminum Products from Vietnam

On May 7, 2024, the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) published the preliminary conclusion of the United States' antidumping investigation (AD) of extruded aluminum and aluminum products from Vietnam.

1. General information about the case and the content of the preliminary conclusion

- On October 24, 2023, the DOC initiated an investigation at the request of the plaintiff: the Aluminum, Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Industry, Energy, and the Federation of American Industries and Services. Antidumping investigation period: From April 1 to September 30, 2023;

- On October 25, 2023, DOC issued Q&V Questionnaires to 13 named petitioners with complete addresses to gather information for the selection of mandatory respondents. However, DOC received timely responses from only 7 of the 13 named petitioners and 31 unnamed petitioners;

- DOC allows businesses to submit separate applications for duty rates (usually calculated as a weighted average of mandatory respondents), in which the company must demonstrate that the company is not subject to both de jure and de facto government control over its export activities, and has received 31 applications;

- On December 12, 2023, DOC selected 02 mandatory respondents in the case. However, on December 26, 2023, a respondent filed a petition to withdraw from the list of mandatory respondents due to not producing or exporting the subject product to the United States during the investigation period;

- On April 19, 2024, the petitioner filed a petition alleging the urgency of the case due to the volume of exports of the subject product from Vietnam to the United States during the period of October 2023 to February 2023 (after the United States received the petition and initiated the case) increased by 36.07% compared to the previous 5-month period (May to September 2023). DOC is expected to issue a preliminary conclusion on the possibility of an emergency within 30 days from the date of the allegation (expected May 20, 2024). Under US law, if DOC determines that an emergency exists, DOC is allowed to apply retroactive measures to shipments exported from Vietnam up to 90 days before the preliminary tax date. This provision is intended to prevent the massive export of investigated goods to the United States in the early stages of the case, when DOC has not yet applied preliminary measures;

- On May 1, 2024, DOC issued a preliminary conclusion on the scope of investigated goods. DOC also allowed the parties to continue commenting on the scope of products until June 5, 2024;

- On May 7, 2024, DOC published the preliminary conclusion of the case. Accordingly, DOC determined the dumping margin for the remaining mandatory respondent to be 2.85%. 28 enterprises that meet the conditions for separate tax rates are also subject to this level. Other enterprises are subject to a nationwide rate equal to the margin alleged by the plaintiff of 41.84%;

- On May 10, 2024, DOC notified the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation and require collateral equal to the dumping margin for imported shipments from May 7, 2024. Specifically, as follows: (1) for the producer/exporter combination listed in the table above, the collateral rate is 2.85%; (2) for the Vietnamese producer/exporter combination not listed in the table above, the collateral rate is 41.84%; and (3) for all third-country exporters not listed in the table above, the margin is equal to the margin applicable to the Vietnamese producer/exporter combination listed in the table above or the national level (depending on which Vietnamese producer/exporter they purchase from);

- Next, DOC plans to conduct an on-site examination of the mandatory respondent and issue a final conclusion no later than 135 days after the date of publication of the preliminary conclusion (expected September 19, 2024).

2. Some response recommendations

(i) For the Vietnam Aluminum Profile Association: Update information to enterprises producing and exporting products under investigation.

(ii) For enterprises producing and exporting related products:

- Continue to closely monitor the developments of the case; proactively study and master the regulations, procedures, and processes of the US anti-dumping investigation; diversify export markets and products;

- Fully cooperate with DOC throughout the process of the case. Any act of non-cooperation or incomplete cooperation may result in the US Investigation Agency using available evidence to the disadvantage or applying the highest anti-dumping tax rate to the enterprise;

- Consider requesting administrative review or review of new exporters (if necessary);

- Regularly coordinate and update information with the Trade Remedies Authority to receive timely support.

For more information, please contact:

Foreign Trade Remedies Handling Department, Trade Remedies Authority, Ministry of Industry and Trade, 23 Ngo Quyen, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi (Specialist in charge: Bui Anh Dung, Phone: 024.7303.7898,

Email: dungban@moit.gov.vn, ngocny@moit.gov.vn,

Website: http://trav.gov.vn/

Attached documents