March 5, 2007

Indian seafood exporters opt for review of US dumping duties

Almost half of the Indian seafood companies exporting shrimps to the US have filed for the second administrative review of the anti-dumping duty imposed by the US.

44 of the 74 companies filed applications, including the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI).

Among the 44 are some firms that had previously sought an out-of-court settlement with petitioner

Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA). The SSA has previously claimed that cheap Indian shrimp exports are damaging the organization's shrimp farmers. The anti-dumping duties collected by the US government goes towards damaged parties. Currently, only SSA has laid claim on the damages.

A second review of shrimp duties last year saw Indian firms getting caught between negotiating with SSA for a settlement or run the risk of having their duties adjusted up ( or down) by the US Department of Commerce if they wanted to remain in the US market.

This year, the firms are moving for a review instead of a settlement as there was a general feeling that duty rates are coming down.

Another strong reason pushing the Indian firms towards the review was that other US claimants are joining the fray to claim a piece of the pie, so settlement with SSA alone may not be enough.

The number of Indian exporters to the US was halved from 228 four years ago, before the anti-dumping duties were imposed, to 128 at the beginning of last year.

Last year saw the figure halved again as the number of Indian exporters fell from 128 to 74 as most chose to leave the US market to look for new markets such as the EU.

Although there had been a four-fold decrease in the number of companies, Indian shrimp exports to the US have fallen by half, indicating the biggest companies are still staying on. India exported US$251.6 million worth of shrimps to the US last year.