The DOC's alleged dumping margin against Vietnam is 52.07%, an increase of 11.22% compared to the plaintiff's proposal (40.85%) and much lower than the alleged level against China, ranging from 74.98% to 83.64%...

According to information from the Department of Trade Defense, Ministry of Industry and Trade, on April 8, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) initiated an anti-dumping investigation (ADI) on polypropylene plastic boxes imported from Vietnam, under HS code 3923.10.9000.

On March 17, 2025, CoolSeal USA, Inteplast Group, and SeaCa Plastic Packaging & Technology Container filed an application with DOC.

According to the plaintiff, based on US Customs data, in 2024, Vietnam exported more than 6 million USD of investigated products to the United States, accounting for about 19.4% of total imports into the United States. Meanwhile, China exported nearly 13.4 million USD of investigated products to the United States, accounting for about 43.3% of total imports into the United States. Total imports from Vietnam and China accounted for 62.7% of total imports of investigated products into the United States.

The petitioner named 7 Vietnamese companies. DOC issued a Volume and Value questionnaire (response deadline is April 21, 2025) to relevant enterprises to collect information, in order to select mandatory defendants (usually the 02 largest exporting enterprises of Vietnam according to US Customs data and the Volume and Value questionnaire responses during the investigation period).

The DOC's alleged dumping margin against Vietnam is 52.07%, an increase of 11.22% compared to the plaintiff's proposal (40.85%) and much lower than the alleged margin against China, ranging from 74.98% to 83.64%.

Because the United States considers Vietnam a non-market economy, DOC will use third-country surrogate values to calculate the dumping margin for Vietnam.

In this case, DOC intends to use Indonesia as a surrogate country at the request of the petitioner. The parties have 60 days to comment on the surrogate country before DOC issues its preliminary findings in the case.

The anti-dumping investigation period is from July 1 to December 31, 2024.

The damage investigation period is from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2024.

Under US investigation regulations, DOC investigates dumping and is responsible for the overall outcome of the investigation, while the US International Trade Commission (ITC) is responsible for assessing the injury to the domestic industry. Anti-dumping duties are imposed only if both agencies issue affirmative conclusions.

In response to the above incident, the Department of Trade Defense recommends that relevant associations should support notification to enterprises exporting the accused products to promptly respond and handle the incident.

For enterprises producing and exporting products, it is necessary to closely monitor the next developments of the case; proactively research and master the regulations, procedures and processes of anti-dumping investigations of the United States; and diversify export markets and products.

At the same time, you must cooperate fully with DOC throughout the entire process of the case. Any act of non-cooperation or incomplete cooperation may result in the US Investigating Agency using available evidence to your disadvantage or applying the highest anti-dumping duty rate to your business.

Enterprises need to proactively register for an IA ACCESS account at the DOC's electronic portal (https://access.trade.gov/login.aspx) to update information and submit documents and materials related to the US investigation agency.

Regularly coordinate and update information with the Department of Trade Defense to receive timely support.

Source: VN Economy