The Fair Toll Of Catfish Inwards Vietnam

Source: Wikipedia

Another fish story.  In recent news, our Federal Government is directly taking on the "fair price" of catfish inwards Vietnam, in addition to imposing large "anti-dumping" tariffs. Can the cost of tea inwards PRC live far away?

Lovers of costless markets in addition to costless trade, this is for you. Fry it amongst a picayune hot sauce.

Who gets wound here? U.S. catfish consumers. Who is that? Hint: catfish isn't on the carte du jour inwards fancy Washington DC restaurants, or fifty-fifty at Spiaggia hither inwards Chicago.

Well, I'm glad nosotros tin mail away come upward to bipartisan understanding -- Republican Congressemen in addition to Senators, in addition to the Administration's merchandise apparatus -- to accept coin out of the pockets of relatively pitiful catfish consumers.

I'm interested inwards the linguistic communication in addition to rhetoric that nosotros role to depict economical policy.  I highlighted roughly peculiarly interesting words in addition to phrases (all emphasis mine.) 

Press release from Senator Jeff Sessions:

Commerce Department Will Enforce “Fair Value” Pricing, Protect Alabama Catfish Industry Following Letter Organized By Sessions Thursday, March 14, 2013

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) commented on a determination today from the Commerce Department regarding the demand to protect Alabama’s catfish manufacture from unfairly priced Vietnamese imports in addition to non-market economies. Sessions organized a bipartisan missive of the alphabet to the Commerce Department to urge them to accept action.

“Domestic production in addition to fair value pricing are essential aspects of a audio economy. [JC: "fair value pricing?"] I am really encouraged yesteryear the findings of the Commerce Department’s eighth Administrative Review. This determination is a pace inwards the right direction to protect U.S. workers in addition to our catfish manufacture inwards Alabama. [JC: What happened to the U.S. catfish consumer?] The dramatic catfish production decrease over the lastly decade tin mail away live direct attributed to unfairly priced imports, leaving our local catfish farms at risk. The Commerce Department’s determination to role Republic of Indonesia equally a surrogate Earth for Vietnam helps right unfair contest in addition to ensures that jobs in addition to manufacture inwards our province are protected. [JC: well, at that spot you lot stimulate got it. The goverment's undertaking is to "protect industry."]  By enforcing our nation’s merchandise laws, in addition to fostering an surroundings that requires good for you lot competition, I am confident that our local catfish farms volition ane time again live a marketplace position leader.”

BACKGROUND: On Feb 7, Sessions organized a missive of the alphabet signed yesteryear Senate colleagues, Richard Shelby, Thad Cochran, Roger Wicker, Mark Pryor, John Boozman, David Vitter, in addition to Mary Landrieu regarding the eighth Administrative review, from the Department of Commerce, determining “fair value” pricing for Vietnamese producers’ frozen fish fillets. The Department of Commerce uses surrogate countries to determine the fair value of products for non-market economies. In previous reviews, the Department of Commerce has used Bangladeshi information to gear upward the marketplace position cost for the Vietnamese producers’ fish fillets despite manufacture proposals for a surrogate field amongst higher character information available, such equally the Philippines or Indonesia. The Bangladeshi prices gain from $0.29/lb-$0.43/lb whereas the U.S. cost is most $0.80/lb. The lower rates stimulate got had pregnant negative effects on the U.S. marketplace position in addition to this continued approach would bolster the book of Vietnamese frozen fish fillets to the detriment of the USA industry.

Today, the Department of Commerce announced that Republic of Indonesia would live used equally a surrogate Earth for Vietnam to best calculate the cost per pound of frozen fish fillets. This determination helps ensure that Vietnamese production volition live subjected to appropriate in addition to reasonable standards in addition to that domestic catfish producers volition non live victims of unfair pricing.

Congressman Rick Crawford:

Washington, Mar xiv -

Today, Congressman Rick Crawford (R-AR) welcomed tidings for the U.S. Catfish manufacture later the Commerce Department issued their concluding results of the eighth Administrative Review of the antidumping duty club on Certain Catfish Filets from Vietnam. The results yell for that Vietnamese catfish volition confront fair antidumping duties when imported into the domestic U.S. market.  For years, the Commerce Department has been unfairly assigning a near-zero antidumping duty on Vietnamese Catfish, which has led to unfair competition, in addition to a overflowing of Vietnamese imports. Since 2008, Vietnamese imports of catfish fillets stimulate got tripled, in addition to stimulate got taken nearly lxxx percentage of the domestic market. The Department decided to switch from a Bangladeshi surrogate value to Indonesian cost index for calculation of antidumping duties...

Crawford issued the next arguing later hearing the welcome news:

“For likewise long, the Arkansas catfish manufacture has faced unfair competition from non-market economies, such equally Vietnam. I am pleased to listen that the Commerce Department heeded my telephone telephone to assign a fairer cost calculation to the value of Vietnamese Catfish. This is a win for the U.S. Catfish manufacture in addition to the Delta part inwards the First District of Arkansas. [JC: in addition to noticeably non a win for U.S. catfish consumers] I am confident that the Commerce Department’s determination to fairly enforce our merchandise laws is a slap-up commencement pace towards a U.S. catfish manufacture recovery that volition exercise jobs in addition to grow the Delta economy.”

Maybe nosotros should experience a chip sad for Sessions in addition to Crawford. At to the lowest degree other senators larn to anteroom for existent money, similar banking concern bailouts.

The Department of Commerce memo is worth reading too. Sometimes it's worth seeing only what goes inwards to our Federal sausage

The production covered yesteryear the club is frozen fish fillets, including regular, shank, in addition to strip fillets in addition to portions thereof, whether or non breaded or marinated, of the species Pangasius Bocourti , Pangasius Hypophthalmus (also known equally Pangasius Pangasius ), in addition to Pangasius Micronemus .

Frozen fish fillets are lengthwise cuts of whole fish. The fillet products covered yesteryear the orbit include boneless fillets amongst the live lly flap intact (“regular” fillets ), boneless fillets amongst the belly flap removed (“shank” fillets), boneless shank fillet s cutting into strips (“fille t strips/finger”), which include fillets cutting into strips, chunks, bl ocks, skewers, or whatever other shape. Specifically excluded from the orbit are frozen whole fish (whether or non dressed), frozen steaks, in addition to frozen belly-flap nuggets. Frozen whole dressed fish are beheaded, skinned, in addition to eviscerated. Steaks are bone-in, cr oss-section cuts of dressed fis h. Nuggets are the belly-flaps. The discipline merchandise volition live hereinafter referr ed to equally frozen “basa” in addition to “tra” fillets, which are the Vietnamese mutual names for these species of fish.

It goes on similar this for 54 mind-numbing pages. H5N1 random excerpt

People's Republic of Bangladesh is a pregnant producer of identical merchandise pangasius hypophthalmus
...The production experiences of pangasius producers inwards People's Republic of Bangladesh replicates those of the Vietnamese respondents inwards that make pangasius through commercial pond-based aquaculture. This direct implies that the cost of production, related expenses, in addition to revenues for pangasius farmers inwards Vietnam in addition to People's Republic of Bangladesh are really similar.

In Indonesia, alone lxx percentage of the 2011 pangasius production is from ponds, in addition to the tape is unclear equally to what proportion of the Indonesian pond based aquaculture production is accounted for commercial-based pond aquaculture equally opposed to homestead-based pond aquaculture.

The life of a planner is a difficult one.

I exercise experience for the producers. I promise mortal knowledgeable volition write in, answering the question: what else tin mail away you lot exercise amongst a catfish farm? Is it possible to modify from catfish to, say, genetically engineered salmon? Trout? Caviar sturgeons? Usually when low-price low-quality competitors seem (and frozen catfish from Vietnam is clearly that), the respond for a domestic producer (if Congress doesn't protect it) is to modify to high-value skill-intensive products.