The US Department of Commerce (DOC) on August 31 announced itsaffirmative preliminary determination in the countervailing duty (CVD)investigation on imports of retail polyethylene carrier bags (plasticbags) from Vietnam .

The DOC said it preliminarilyfinds subsidisation of polyethylene retail carrier bags from Vietnamand preliminarily determined that the three mandatory respondentsAdvance Polybag, Chin Sheng Company, Ltd., and Fotai Vietnam EnterpriseCorp. received preliminary subsidy rates of 0.20 de minimis, 1.69percent, and 4.24 percent, respectively.

All other exporters from Vietnam received a preliminary subsidy rate of 2.97 percent, it added.

The DOC's preliminary determination in the CVD investigation onVietnam's plastic bags was released after the two US companies, namelyHilex Poly Co., LLC, and Superbag Corporation, filed a petition onMarch 31 with both the DOC and the US International Trade Commission(ITC), alleging that an industry in the US was materially injured byreason of subsidised plastic bags imported from Vietnam as well asthose from Indonesia and Taiwan. This is the first CVD investigationinvolving Vietnam .

The DOC is currently scheduled to issue its final determination onJanuary 11, 2010 and the ITC will make its final determination 45 daysafter.

The placing of orders may take place only in the event of final affirmative determinations by both the DOC and the ITC.

In 2008, the US imported about 79 million USD worth of such bags from Vietnam./.