January 21, 2009

India's seafood industry may rejoice soon, as the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has initiated action to abandon the enhanced bonding requirement (EBR) on shrimp imports.

The bond requirement has hurt Asian seafood exporters on top of the US anti-dumping duty, and countries such as India and Thailand had filed complaints to the WTO. In the end, the WTO ruled that the US bond requirement is against international trade laws, and the US move is in response to the ruling.

Indian exporters said this move is crucial and important to the domestic export industry, as India's seafood trade with the US had declined sharply in the past four to five years.

The number of seafood exporters to the US fell from 254 in 2005 to merely 52 last year, due to the heavy burden of the bond requirement and anti-dumping duties on shrimps.

The CBP has called for public comments on the issue and will close on February 11, 2009. Final notice regarding the EBR will be announced after examining the comments, according to the CBP.