US receives request for anti-dumping probe into Vietnamese pharmaceutical capsules

Workers manufacture tablets at a pharmaceutical factory in Long An Province. — VNA/VNS Photo

Two Vietnamese exporters are accused of dumping products and receiving Government subsidies.

The products under consideration include various hard empty capsules (HS codes 9602.00.1040 and 9602.00.5010) for pharmaceuticals, with the investigation petition filed by Lonza Greenwood LLC.

The anti-dumping investigation would cover April to September 2024, while the countervailing duty probe would look into all of 2023. Damages that allegedly took place from January 2021 to June 2024 would also be examined in the investigation.

The petitioner reported that total imports of the products from Việt Nam reached about US$26 million in 2023. Imports from Việt Nam account for around 12 per cent of the total volume of products being investigated, according to data provided by the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

The alleged dumping margins for Việt Nam range from 65.97 per cent to 89.33 per cent.

Due to the US treating Việt Nam as a non-market economy, the DOC will use a third-country surrogate value to calculate dumping margins.

The petitioner alleges that Vietnamese manufacturers and exporters have benefitted from 23 government subsidy programmes, significantly harming or threatening the US hard capsule shell industry.

Alleged programmes include preferential loans, export guarantees, invoice factoring and export factoring with favourable terms offered by four state-owned commercial banks.

The DOC has 20 days to review the petition and decide whether to initiate an investigation, with a decision expected by November 13. In special cases, the review period may extend up to 40 days.

The Trade Remedies Authority of Việt Nam recommends that relevant producers and exporters closely monitor case developments, plan appropriate response strategies, diversify export markets and fully cooperate with US authorities.