Argentina begins anti-dumping investigation on Vietnamese ceramic tiles

Argentina announced a two-year anti-dumping investigation on ceramic tiles from Viet Nam with a raised dumping margin of nearly 30 per cent, the Vietnam Competition Authority said.

A ceramic tile production line of CMC Joint Stock Company in Thuy Van Industrial Park in the northern province of Phu Tho. - Photo gachcmc.com

The anti-dumping investigation, which began on August 18, will be carried out on products exported to Argentina in 2015 and 2016.

Viet Nam is one of several countries under investigation. China gets the highest dumping margin of nearly 185 per cent, followed by Malaysia, India and Brazil, with margins of 126 per cent, 107 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.

Ceramic tile is the fourth Vietnamese product investigated by Argentina, after spokes, motorbikes and air-conditioners.

The ceramic tile industry is one of the few production sectors that have rapidly increased in Viet Nam. With an annual capacity of 500million sq.m., the country takes the lead in Southeast Asia and ranks the sixth in the world.

Many businesses, such as Viet Nam Glass and Ceramics for Construction Corporation, Dong Tam Group, Thach Ban Joint Stock Company and CMC Joint Stock Company, as well as Taicera and Bach Ma Company have joined in the production.

Experts said the European Union-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreements and Trans-Pacific Partnership would not threaten the country's ceramic tile industry, but instead open new markets for the products.

A statistic on trade between Viet Nam and Argentina, issued by the General Department of Customs, showed that Viet Nam earned US$383.2 million from exports in 2015, a year-on-year increase of 120.3 per cent. It imported goods worth of $2.15 billion, a rise of 25.3 per cent. Argentina is the 14th largest importers of Viet Nam and the 49th largest exporter.

Source VNS