Ant-dumping duty on shrimp exports to the US will continue for the time being with the US Department of Commerce (US DOC) ruling that the duty is necessary to prevent India from dumping shrimps into the US. Indian exporters were hoping that the review by the USDOC would revoke the anti-dumping duty, which was hurting trade between the two countries.
Under the US Tariff Act of 1930, all tariffs come automatically under review every five years and the anti-dumping duty on shrimp imports from India, China, Brazil, Thailand and Vietnam were imposed in 2005.
Inadequate data from Indian exporters is the reason cited by the USDOC for continuation of the duty. India was represented by the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI), which is a trade association whose membership consists of Indian producers and exporters.
It is learned that other countries like China and Vietnam who are also facing the punitive tariff did not participate in the proceedings.
Incidentally, the preliminary report of the fourth review (for the period of February 1, 2008, through January 31, 2009) which came out during March had increased the duty payable by Indian exporters by almost 300 % alleging that one of the Indian respondents was dumping shrimps into US.
The average national duty for Indian exports is 2.67 % based on the duty structure for the three respondents. The third annual review by USITC had lowered the duty to less than 0.79% from 1.69% after the second review.