HANOI: Vietnam, has a seedier side. In the 1990s, the city was the stomping ground of one of Vietnam’s most notorious gang bosses, Vu Thi Hoang Dung, also known as Dung Ha, or Dung the Lesbian. Today it is a hotbed of smuggling, also referred to as the “grey trade” or “grey channel”. Based on an Undercurrent News analysis of international trade data and information from industry sources, smuggling is the main reason behind Vietnam’s increase in seafood imports from $25 million in 2001 to over $5 billion in 2016; a rise unmatched in its compound annual growth rate 40% by any other country in the world. The grey trade is well-known; it refers mostly to seafood unloaded in Haiphong and sent onwards to the border with China, where it is taken across the border illicitly to avoid Chinese customs duties.
This demand surge has been tapped by smugglers who’ve turned “the grey trade” into an efficient enterprise, which appears able to undercut official importers even when Chinese tariffs are relatively low. According to Dezan Shira & Associates, a consultancy firm, currently Chinese import tariffs for seafood from countries with most-favored nations (MFN) status range from 2% to 17.5%. MFN status applies to member countries of the World Trade Organization.
