June 19, 2006

Chinese shrimp companies win anti-dumping case in US

Nine Chinese shrimp enterprises have won their case against an anti-dumping  ruling by the US Department of Commerce after a year-long battle.

The US Court of International Trade ruled last week the department had used unfair surrogate prices in its dumping ruling on imports of Chinese shrimps.

Zhang Zhibiao, secretary-general with the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Foodstuffs, said the case had set an example for Chinese enterprises to fight for their own benefits through judicial channels, adding that the ruling also reinforced the confidence of enterprises fighting claims of dumping.

The US commerce department had ruled it would collect punitive duties of up to 112.8 percent on Chinese shrimps early last year as a measure to deter dumping.

Since China is not regarded as a full market economy by the US, the price of an Indian shrimp were used to determine the amount of damages. However, the fact that the Indian shrimps were a different species from the Chinese shrimps led the Chinese companies to file a complaint saying the surrogate prices were unjustified.

The court has agreed and ordered the commerce department to make a new ruling in 90 days.

The case was the largest dumping claim against Chinese farm products. The market for Chinese shrimps in the US was worth US$380 million in 2004.