March 16, 2009

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has slashed the anti-dumping duty rates for Indian shrimp exports to the US to 0.79 percent in its preliminary findings of the third administrative review.

Earlier, the second review conducted by the DOC had brought down the anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimp exports to the US to 1.69 percent.

Sources from Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) said this sharp reduction in anti-dumping duty for shrimp exports to the US by close to one percentage point is a great achievement.

The anti-dumping which was initially imposed at a steep level of 10.17 percent, had posed formidable challenges to Indian shrimp exports.

Successive efforts by the Union Government, the Marine Product Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and SEAI had resulted in the first review bringing it down to 7.22 percent, the second review to 1.69 percent and the preliminary findings of the third review now bringing it down to 0.79 percent.

SEAI sources said that though the anti-dumping and customs bond rates are expected to come down sharply when the final findings are announced in July, it would still take quite a while for the Indian industry to recover and become competitive in the US markets.

SEAI sources also pointed that shrimp imports from Ecuador will attract an anti-dumping duty of 2.09 percent, Thailand 4.51 percent, Vietnam 25.76 percent and China 112.81 percent.

Though 170 Indian shrimp exporting companies came up for review, the respondents were restricted to Devi Sea Foods Ltd and Falcon Marine Exports Ltd.

The preliminary review estimates that Devi Sea Foods would be attracting an anti-dumping duty of 0.39 percent, while Falcon Marine would be at 0.79 percent.

The Indian shrimp exporters were optimistic that the final administrative review would validate the preliminary findings and reduce the anti-dumping duties to very low levels, adding that this would once again re-vitalise Indian shrimp exports.