US to review shrimp import tariff in 2010

The US will decide in February next year whether to continue levying anti-dumping tariff on shrimp imported from five countries including Vietnam to protect fishermen and processors.

In 2005, the US International Trade Commission placed anti-dumping tariff on shrimp from Brazil, India, Vietnam, China and Thailand because it found the countries were importing a product at a price below the cost of production.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), in a ''sunset review'' scheduled for Feb 2010, federal officials will hear arguments on how successful the tariffs have been in helping coastal outfits, like those in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, compete with foreign imports.

The Louisiana Shrimp Task Force says the five foreign companies accounted for 75% of all imported shrimp in the US before the special tariffs were spaced and the share decreased by over 18% two years later.

Earlier, Kenneth J. Pierce, a US lawyer, predicted that the sunset review may end the tariff on Vietnam because the country has many advantages in proving that the difficulties the US shrimp industry is facing have not been caused by Vietnamese businesses.