June 6, 2007

 

China shrimp exporters circumvent US laws to avoid anti-dumping taxes

 

 

Chinese exporters are likely transshipping through Malaysia and other countries to avoid payment of US antidumping duties, the US Southern Shrimp Alliance charged.

 

Malaysia exported only slightly more than 3 million pounds of shrimp to the United States in 2002. Four years later, this increased to an astounding 125 million pounds.

 

In China itself, shrimp exports to the US grew at a less impressive rate, from 2 million pounds in 2002 to 25 million pounds last year.

 

By exporting to Malaysia and then exporting to the US, Chinese shrimp companies save on the punitive anti-dumping duties of the US, which is not leveled at Malaysia.

 

It is likely other countries are also supplying Chinese shrimp to the US market.

 

For example, a recent Chinese shrimp shipment, totaling approximately US$58 million in value, was unlawfully transshipped and labeled as a product of Indonesia.

 

Chinese shrimp companies are also using other methods to escape paying antidumping duties, the SSA said.

 

Shipments of dusted shrimp, or shrimp treated with a small percentage of wheat or rice flour from China have also increased significantly.

 

Since "dusted" shrimp are to be used for breaded or battered shrimp, they are not subject to antidumping duties. In the three years from 2003 to 2006, US imports of "dusted" shrimp increased more than 300 times from 71,000 pounds in 2003 to over 26 million pounds in 2006, 99.5 percent of it from China.

 

Despite the huge increase, US breading production has declined during the period, indicating that ¡¡ãdusted¡¡À shrimp are not being breaded as intended. Instead, it is probably processed again to compete with local shrimps, the SSA said.

 

The Southern Shrimp Alliance in the US is now coordinating with Congress and the US Customs and Border Protection to better enforce laws against the circumvention of antidumping rules on foreign shrimp

 

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has made preventing circumvention of the shrimp antidumping duty orders a priority, especially shipments from China.

 

Other countries targeted include Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand, and Vietnam.

 

John Williams, executive director of the SSA said when companies circumvent the antidumping orders, they are also disguising the real origins of the shrimp and posing a risk to consumers.

 

SSA has coordinated closely with members of Congress and CBP to discuss circumvention of the antidumping orders.

 

The SSA said it is confident that aggressive enforcement efforts by the CBP should lead to a substantial decline in such practices.

 

SSA is a non-profit alliance of members of the shrimp industry in eight states. Last year it was involved in ensuring that foreign shrimp importers pay anti-dumping duties imposed by the US. Proceeds from such duties are currently used to "compensate" US shrimp farmers. Anti-dumping duties in the US have forced shrimp producing countries such as India to look elsewhere for their markets, with the EU and Japan among the choices.