Domestic enterprises should join forces to apply trade defencemeasures, according to Dinh Thi My Loan, chairwoman of the AdvisoryCouncil on International Trade Remedies under the Vietnam Chamber ofCommerce and Industry.

The Ministry of Industry andTrade imposed a 5 percent anti-dumping tax on imported vegetable oil,including refined soya and palm oil on September 7 in a pioneering moveto protect local producers from unhealthy competition from importedproducts.

According to the director of theMinistry's Competition Authority, Bach Van Mung, the ministry's decisionon imported vegetable oil followed an investigation which found thatimports were damaging domestic producers in market share, output,profits and labour.

A representative from BigCSupermarket said that the impact of the import tax on vegetable oilwould not be huge because domestic production could meet most localdemand.

Experts said that Vietnamese enterprisesneeded to prepare carefully for potential trade lawsuits that could havenegative impacts on Vietnamese enterprises.

TheVietnam Competition Authority is also examining a proposal from domesticsteel producers to apply anti-dumping tax on stainless steel productsimported from China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia.-VNA