Vietnam's shrimpers decry U.S. tariffs
SOC TRANG - Like any good entrepreneur, Tran Huu Mai seized an opportunity: He helped Americans satisfy their craving for plump, juicy shrimp.
Three years ago, the 60-year-old pig farmer took his life's savings and built a shrimp farm beneath the vast skies of the Mekong Delta, a fertile, swampy region more famous for producing rice than crustaceans.
The profits came quickly. But so did the wrath of the U.S. government - the very same government that has touted the benefits of free trade to people like Mai in developing nations around the globe.
At the behest of U.S. shrimpers, the Commerce Department ruled last month that Vietnamese and Chinese shrimp growers have been "dumping" their shrimp on the U.S. market at unreasonably low prices. The United States has begun collecting tariffs of up to 93 percent on Vietnamese shrimp and 113 percent on Chinese shrimp. Late in July, the administration proposed tariffs against Brazil, Ecuador, India and Thailand that ranged from 4 percent to 68 percent, far smaller than what Southern shrimpers and processors had sought.
The rates are preliminary. The foreign shrimpers can appeal the ruling, which won't become final until January.
But Mai's profits are tumbling already. The Vietnamese export companies that buy his product are paying 30 percent less than before.
If the U.S. government doesn't have mercy and lower the tariffs, Mai says, he'll have to go out of business. He's already laid off 20 of his 30 workers, keeping on a skeleton crew that is mostly extended family.
"I hope the Department of Commerce will reconsider this ruling," Mai said. "That's my only hope for a good future. We just want the U.S. government to look at this case fairly."
Mai operates 13 shrimp ponds, located next to a vast expanse of neighboring farms that stretch out as far as the eye can see. The checkerboard of ponds is broken up only by power lines, bamboo shacks and the occasional palm tree.
Mai's farm stands along the labyrinth of rivers that crisscross the green Delta rice paddies, about eight miles from Soc Trang, the bustling provincial capital. He travels to and from town in a long wooden sampan, hoping to avoid the torrential downpours that are a staple of the tropical summer.
In 2002, his first year of business, Mai earned $50,000; as a hog farmer he made $3,000 a year. Many shrimp farmers have operations smaller than Mai's and live on the margins of poverty. Across Vietnam, the per capita income is $480 a year.
Mai says his success is the result of a favorable climate and low labor costs, not government subsidies. He pays his workers just $30 a month, in addition to room and board.
They live in a building made of tin and palm fronds, sleeping on wooden platforms and hammocks among sacks of "Tom Boy" shrimp food. ("Tom" is Vietnamese for shrimp.)
Crew members work seven days a week, have virtually no possessions and take a long weekend once every four months.
Yet they are happy to be here, away from the rice fields.
"This job is not as exhausting as picking rice," said Thach Kien, who spends all his money on clothing and cigarettes. "And I earn twice as much now as I earned then."
For entertainment, they watch a little television or kick a soccer ball around a dusty patch of ground between the shrimp ponds.
They feed the shrimp three times a day and harvest them once every six months.
The business is equipped with modern machinery, but the low overhead allows it to thrive, according to Mai's wife, Lam Thi Nuong.
"The U.S. is not right to say we are dumping shrimp," Nuong said. "And it is irrational to say that we are subsidized by the government. We have to mobilize investment capital by ourselves, just like any businessman."
Nuong's house has almost no furniture - just platform beds with straw mats and no mattresses.
The family's $180 monthly budget covers all their household expenses, including food, electricity and gas for their new Ford Escape SUV, the one luxury they have allowed themselves since earning a shrimp windfall.
Mai thinks the U.S. government is punishing him and thousands of other Vietnamese shrimp farmers for their success, just as they punished Vietnamese catfish exporters by imposing tariffs last year.
"They are just trying to protect their own shrimp industry," Mai said. "Instead of thinking about the benefit to one small group, the U.S. government should think about the entire American people, who benefit from buying our shrimp at a low price."
Vietnam's catfish exporters found new markets in Europe and Japan after the Americans slapped a tariff on them, and Mai hopes shrimpers can do the same.
Vietnam's exports to the United States have boomed in recent years, reaching $467 million in 2003. Shrimp and other seafood products are Vietnam's fourth-biggest export after crude oil, garments and shoes.
Almost half of Vietnam's shrimp exports go to the United States. Europe and Japan are also major buyers.
Like most Vietnamese, Mai has been pleased that U.S.-Vietnamese relations have improved in recent years. He welcomed former President Clinton's visit in November 2000. He applauded the signing of the U.S.-Vietnam bilateral trade agreement that same year.
He still thinks of Americans as friends. But when it comes to free trade, Mai has concluded that the United States government says one thing and does another.
"The Vietnamese people have suffered from poverty and war for many years," Mai said. "We really need the U.S. government to help us."
By Ben Stocking - The San Jose Mercury News - August 18, 2004.
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