October 21, 2004

US to Release Final Ruling on Shrimp Dumping Duties

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) is expected to release as early as next week its final ruling on dumping duties on shrimp imports. Taxes as high as 112 percent could be imposed on imports from six countries.

Total imports from India, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Thailand, and Vietnam account for 75 percent of all shrimp imported by the United States each year.

The DOC ruling will come in the wake of data compiled by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) showing that shrimp continues to rank as the number one seafood in the United States. Americans consume a record 4.0 pounds of shrimp per person in 2003, up from 3.7 pounds in 2002.

''Consumers may find their favorite seafood suddenly priced out of reach as a result of the food tax,'' said Shrimp Task Force Chairman, Wally Stevens.

Stevens, who also serves as President of the American Seafood Distributors Association, points out that dumping duties and new bonding requirements by US Customs will also adversely affect US companies, which will find the new requirements a difficult and unfair consequence of the antidumping investigation.