A decision by the European Union Council to extend anti-dumping duties on leather shoes from Vietnam by 15 months has put many shoe businesses in danger of bankruptcy.

Vietnamese shoemakers have been seriously affected by EU anti-dumping duties since they were first imposed three years ago. “The continued duties could squeeze several enterprises badly and put them at risk of bankruptcy,” said Truong Thuy Lien, director of the Lien Phat Shoe Company.

Khuong Manh Tan, chairman of the Tan Thanh Company management board said that the decision had caused his company difficulties because they specialize in women’s leather shoes for the EU. He said they had negotiated with their partners to share the burden together. He added that Vietnam’s shoes businesses could not reduce salaries or skip payments despite the difficulties.

Nguyen Van Hanh, director of the Quang Nam Leather Shoes Company, said that the EU removed Vietnamese footwear from the Generalized System of Preferences two years ago. Now the industry must pay a 5 percent tax and a 10 percent anti-dumping duty, sending prices soaring.

Truong Quoc Can, an Action Aid representative in Hanoi, called the EU tax extension an ‘unfair and contradictory’ decision.

“On the one hand, the EU spends money on poverty reduction projects in Vietnam and on the other hand, it imposes heavy taxes that directly affect the country’s most vulnerable workers,” Can said.

Tran Thi Ha, a worker at the Huu Nghi Leather Shoes Joint Stock Company, said workers in the company, 85 percent of whom are women, had been the first to be affected by the duty extension. “With a monthly salary of VND1.9 million ($105), we struggle to earn enough. We are waiting for the company to find new markets,” she said.

VNS-VOV

Updated : 11:06 AM, 12/29/2009

Source: english.vovnews.vn