March 28, 2007

Southern Shrimp Alliance drops 410 companies from duties review

Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), the original petitioners in the anti-dumping case, has shortened the list of exporters it intended for the ongoing second administrative review conducted by the Department of Commerce, deleting 410 companies from India, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Thailand and Vietnam.

A previous petition of the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) has resulted in US customs imposing anti-dumping duties on imported shrimps, mainly from Asian countries. The damages were then awarded to the Southern Shrimp Alliance for distribution to US shrimp producers affected. The administrative review of the Department of Commerce allows Asian exporters pinpointed by the SSA to opt for a chance to have a lower duty. However, in doing that, exporters are taking a chance as the duty for companies taking the review may be higher as well.

Of the companies deleted, 17 are from India but only five are still exporting to the US. Should these five decide to continue exporting to the US, they would have to pay duties as high as 82.3 percent as they were not among those who applied for the administrative review.

After the first review, the DoC had raised the anti-dumping duty for Indian and Brazilian exporters, even as it cut the duty for four other countries. Post-review, Indian exporters have to pay a slightly higher duty of 10.54 per cent from the earlier 10.17 per cent.