Vietnam protests "unfair" EU anti-dumping tariffs on shoes

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday October 6, 2006

Hanoi- Vietnam's government lashed out Friday against European Union members' decision to levy punitive tariffs on leather shoes from Vietnam and China, countries the European Commission accuses of "dumping" the products at below production costs. "The application of anti-dumping tariffs on Vietnamese leather shoes is just to protect the interests of manufacturers with weak competitiveness in Europe, while causing losses to the majority of the consumers and retails distributors," Vietnam's government spokesman Le Dung said in a statement Friday.

"As we have repeatedly stated, enterprises with production facilities in Vietnam do not dump their leather shoes products into EU market," Dung added. "The decision by the EC to impose the anti- dumping tariff on leather shoes of Vietnam is unfair."

EU member states agreed Wednesday to impose tariffs of 10 per cent n Vietnamese shoes and 16.5 per cent on Chinese shoes, resolving months of disagreement among EU members states.

The European Commission proposed the fines, saying Vietnam and China illegally support manufacturers with measures like cut-rate land and electricity, giving the Asian producers an unfair advantage over European competitors.

Calls for the duties have come from the European footwear industry and the Italian government which says Chinese and Vietnamese exporters are destroying the country's shoemakers.

However, there have been warnings that the fines would lead to higher prices for consumers.

The commission claims Chinese leather footwear exports to Europe jumped by 450 cent between 2004 and 2005 and Vietnamese exports increased by 100 per cent during the same period.

According to EC figures, China exported 1.25 billion pairs of shoes to Europe in 2005 and 174 million pairs will be affected by the new duties.

Vietnam exported 265 million pairs of shoes to the EU in 2005, of which 103 million pairs will be affected by the fines.

The 25 EU states have until now been split over the issue, with so-called "northern liberals" such as Britain, Scandinavia and Germany opposing the duties in the name of free trade.

More protectionist southern European states, including Italy, Spain and Greece, say tough action against China is needed to protect Europe's footwear producers.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency