HANOI: Vietnam said on Tuesday it had raised slightly the tax rates on its anti-dumping measures on some aluminium products originating from China, following a government review of its probe into the impact of the duties.

The rates applicable to some Chinese aluminium products are set between 4.39% and 35.58% on companies in China, effective April 25, the government said in a statement. It did not say how long the tariffs would be in place.

The previous rates imposed since October 2019 were 2.49%-35.58%

The increase comes after a reassessment by the industry ministry of its anti-dumping investigation that started in January 2019 and was conducted on behalf of the domestic industry.

The review concluded that the domestic manufacturing industry was under threat of considerable damage as key indicators such as profit, output and labour were poor even when Chinese steel products were under tax rates of 2.49%-35.58%, the statement added.

In December last year, Vietnam also imposed anti-dumping duties on some coil or sheet cold-rolled steel products that originated from China for five years. Vietnam relies on China, its largest trading partner, for materials and equipment for its labour-intensive manufacturing sector.

Vietnam’s trade deficit with China reached $11.75 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 72.5% against the same period last year, official data showed.