US-based Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) has obtained a stay against the reduction of anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimps, levied by the US department of commerce. SSA demanded the temporary cessation of the second annual review and requested that a fresh review be conducted, Anwar Hashim, national president of Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) told FE.
?This would mean that the refund on the cash bond executed during exports will be delayed,? he added.
SSA is the original petitioner against shrimp import from India and several other nations. The alliance alleged that that low-priced, pond-raised shrimps (the US mostly harvests shrimp from the sea) from Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand, and Vietnam were hurting the US seafood industry.
In response to their efforts, the US International Trade Commission imposed anti-dumping duties on billions of dollars of shrimp imports from Asia and Latin America from 2004. In addition to the anti-dumping duty, the US has imposed a customs bond, which is a cash guarantee collected by the US customs against any further rise in anti-dumping duty.
The second annual review (for the period of February 1, 2006 to January 31, 2007) had reduced the anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimps to 1.69%.