Hanoi (VNA) –Official safeguard measures will be applied on DAP and MAP fertilizer productsimported into Vietnam as investigations showed that domestic production hasbeen seriously harmed by imported fertilizers.

Under Decision No. 686/QD-BCTissued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT),
the duration for applying this safeguard duty istwo years, starting from March 7 this year.

Aftertwo years, the ministry will consider the socio-economic impact and decidewhether to extend the safeguard measures or not.

Accordingly, the imported fertilisers in thelist will be subject to tax imposed as per the schedule below.

From March 7, 2018 to March 6, 2019, thesafeguard duty is 1,128,531 VND (50 USD) per tonne. This amount is equal to thedifference between the actual selling price and the selling price at thebreak-even point of the domestic industry, equivalent to only 60 per cent ofthe tax rate that Vietnam is entitled to apply in accordance with theprovisions of WTO and the laws of the country.

From March 7, 2019 to March 6, 2020, the taxrate dropped to 1,072,104 VND per tonne.

The investigation and application of safeguardmeasures on imported DAP and MAP fertilisers were carried out in accordancewith the provisions of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement onSafeguards and Ordinance No.42/2002 on safeguards in the import of foreigngoods into Vietnam.

Earlier, on March 31, 2017, some domesticfertiliser producers requested that trade defence measures be applied to anumber of imported fertiliser products due to their negative impact on domesticproduction.

Based on the dossier appraisal results, customsdata and provisions of the law on safeguards, the MoIT on May 12 last yearissued Decision No. 1682A/QD-BCT on initiating a fertiliser dumpinginvestigation and considering the application of safeguard measures on DAP andMAP imported fertiliser products into Vietnam.

The preliminary investigation concluded that theimported goods seriously harmed domestic production. Based on this, on August4, the MoIT decided to apply temporary safeguard measures on some DAP and MAPfertiliser products imported into Việt Nam, with the applied temporarysafeguard tax being 1,855,790 VND per tonne. The decision was effectivefrom August 19, 2017, to March 6, 2018.

In the final investigation stage, the MoITdecided to extend the deadline for investigating cases of applying safeguardmeasures for imported DAP and MAP fertilisers for two more months beforeissuing the final report.

The final investigation showed that the importedDAP and MAP fertilisers caused price pressures and price hikes on domesticgoods during 2013-16 period.-VNA