December 1, 2004

 

 

Tariff Decision Likely to Reduce Chinese Shrimp Exports to the US

 

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced the final duty rates to be imposed on imported shrimp from China and Vietnam.

 

Chinese shrimp imports were slapped with a countrywide tariff of 112.81 percent, while a duty rate of 25.76 percent was placed on Vietnamese imports.

 

A handful of large companies that account for the majority of each country's shrimp exports received lower individual tariffs after complying with the anti-dumping investigation. They averaged about 55 percent in China and about 4 percent in Vietnam.

 

According to analysts, the tariffs for Vietnam were far below the roughly 90 percent rate expected. The lower-than-expected tariffs on imports from Vietnam was a move likely to relieve pressure on the US import market and prevent a surge in retail prices.

 

James Jochum, the assistant commerce secretary, said that the willingness of Vietnamese shrimp producers to assist in the Commerce Department's investigation had partly contributed to the change in rates. DOC also changed its complex pricing-assessment methodology in Vietnam's favor.

 

China could see a reduced share in the American shrimp market, according to analysts. The Asian giant is second largest exporter of shrimp to the United States, behind Thailand.

 

The decisions were seen as a victory by the domestic shrimp industry, which has suffered in recent years as cheap shrimp imports from Latin America and Asia have increased supplies and decreased prices in the United States.

 

Foreign exporters and American importers argue that imported shrimp are simply produced more efficiently because they are farm-raised rather than netted as compared with most US shrimp. American shrimpers claim that their competitors are cheating by dumping their product - selling it below cost to drive US producers out of business.

 

"The United States is the most open market for shrimp in the world, but we cannot let Chinese and Vietnamese shrimpers violate the rules of free trade to get ahead of their competition," Eddie Gordon, the president of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, said Tuesday.

 

Last December, the alliance -- which represents shrimpers in eight Southern states -- petitioned the Commerce Department to investigate possible dumping of shrimp from China, Vietnam, Brazil, Ecuador, India and Thailand. Dumping is illegal in the United States and is punished with tariffs to put law-abiding companies on equal footing.

 

In July, the Commerce Department issued preliminary anti-dumping tariff determinations for the six countries, which provided 90 percent of the shrimp consumed in the United States last year. Final determinations for China and Vietnam were announced Tuesday, and decisions on the other four countries will be made Dec. 20.