August 9, 2004

 

 

US Anti-Dumping Duty Hits Indian Shrimp Farmers

 

The heavy anti-dumping duty imposed by the United States on Indian shrimp exports has hit fishermen and shrimp farmers in Andhra Pradesh, forcing several to resort to distress sale of prawns.

 

Last month the US imposed 3.56 percent to 27.49 percent duty on shrimp imports from India on the ground that the shrimp industry was subsidised by the government. It imposed a similar duty on six other countries.

 

Alarmed over the development, several aqua farmers have already quit shrimp farming while others have slashed prices drastically.

 

This has compounded the problem of the farmers who were plagued by three successive years of drought, falling prices and diseases.

 

The US is India's second-largest shrimp buyer after Japan. Nearly a quarter of the Indian shrimp exporters' $1 billion annual earnings come from American imports.

 

In its preliminary ruling on July 30 the US Commerce Department had said that shrimps and prawns imported from these countries were being sold at artificially low prices, hurting US producers.

 

As the US agency prepares to make a final decision in a few months and set new tariffs, an official team is visiting India to scrutinize the books of seafood exporters.

 

The team also visited Visakhapatnam. The US team is gathering statistics of procurement, processing and production of various Indian shrimp exporters.

 

However, the authorities in Hyderabad had no details of the US team's visit and their talks with exporters.

 

Meanwhile, state Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging the central government to intervene in the matter with the US.

 

In his letter, he said that about 100,000 small and marginal farmers are engaged in aquaculture in about 55,000 hectares. He also pointed out that 724,000 fishermen also depend on shrimp farming.

 

The Andhra Pradesh Aqua Farmers Association president Duvvuri Radhakrishna Reddy has urged the state and central government to take urgent measures to help the farmers.

 

He said the US measure would badly affect the sector which earns a foreign exchange revenue of more than Rs.30 billion per annum.

 

"We already suffered huge losses and the latest decision by the US might force us to give up aqua farming," said Srinivas Rao, a farmer in Nellore district in this southern state.

 

The decision would adversely affect the livelihood of more than 800,000 families in the state.

 

The Aqua farmers president, Radhakrishna Reddy, said that the area under cultivation for Black Tiger Prawns has come down to 150,000 hectares from 200,000 hectares in the State due to the present crisis.

 

In Nellore district, the prawn cultivation area has come down to 20,000 hectares for Black Tiger Prawn.

 

The farmers, who used to get Rs 340 per kg of 40 count Tiger Prawn till some time ago are selling the produce at Rs 220 to Rs 240 per kg now.

 

The farmers association feels that that Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) was also ignoring their welfare.

 

The association wants the government to increase storage facilities in the state and ensure that the farmers get remunerative prices.

 

The association also wants that the government should set up labs to protect and maintain the quality of the aqua products.