The US Department of Commerce will lower anti-dumping duties imposed on two Vietnamese basa catfish companies after one-year application of tax penalty, Vietnam News Tuesday quoted the Vietnam Association of Exporters and Producers as saying.

Under the department's preliminary decision, the tariff will decrease from 41.06 percent to 38.8 percent for the Cataco, and from 37.94 percent to 7.23 percent for the Vinh Hoan. The two companies are among four compulsory defendants in the anti-dumping lawsuit over basa imported from Vietnam in 2003.

The final decision on lowering the anti-dumping tariffs will be made after the department carries out more investigations in Vietnam next month, the association said.

Vietnam earned over 1.6 billion US dollars by exporting seafood mainly to the United States, the European Union, Japan and China in the first 8 months of this year, posting a year-on-year increase of 10.3 percent. It has targeted to make seafood revenue of 2.6 billion dollars in 2005.

Source: Xinhua