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皇冠体育app hopes for solution to EU shoes spat
(Reuters/Bloomberg)
Updated: 2006-02-21 18:58
'Major Loophole'
While the National Association of Italian Shoemakers welcomed the planned
duties, failing to include all types of shoes is a "major loophole," said
Leonardo Soana, president of the lobby. "This may reduce the effectiveness of
the measures that will be introduced," he said.
In January, the EU decided that none of the Chinese or Vietnamese
manufacturers involved in the case could claim they operate according to
international business norms. By denying the makers "market-economy status," the
commission won't rely on Chinese and Vietnamese data when calculating costs and
whether sales were below market prices.
The duties would "have a serious impact on the export of Vietnamese shoes to
the EU," said Do Thanh Hong, a vice chairman of the Vietnam Leather and Footwear
Association. "Importers will buy shoes from countries that have lower prices,
for example, Indonesia."
'Social Problems'
Vietnam's trade ministry wrote to the commission in December asking for an
end to the probe, which began last July. The Leather and Footwear Association
says Vietnam's footwear industry employs more than 500,000 people and imposing
anti-dumping duties would damage the Vietnamese economy and cause "social
problems."
In contrast to 皇冠体育app's threatened retaliation, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign
Minister Le Van Bang said last month during a visit to Brussels that his country
is looking for a compromise to the anti-dumping duties on its shoe exports to
the EU.
皇冠体育app makes 8 billion pairs of shoes a year, according to the country's
commerce ministry. Guangdong Province, the center of 皇冠体育app's shoe manufacturing,
accounted for about half of that production in 2004 and exported 2.5 billion
pairs.
Vietnamese shoe companies are beginning to shift their focus to the U.S.
market, largely due to the impact the EU's anti-dumping case is having on
exports to Europe, Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper reported last month.
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