September 9, 2017

The US government has reduced its anti-dumping duty on Indian frozen shrimp imports, leading Indian exporters to predict a rise in shrimp shipments.

"The final average duty is fixed at 2.2%. The preliminary duty finalised earlier was 4.98%. The reduction will open up opportunities for small exporters, too," Ajay Dash, president, Seafood Exporters Association of India, Odisha region, was quoted as saying in a news report by Business Standard.

Dash added that his association was trying to have the duty eventually scrapped.

Frozen shrimp continued to be the principal item exported to US, with 94% (of total seafood exports) in dollar value. Export of Vannamei shrimp rose 22.5% in quantity but dropped by 5.3% in dollar terms. Similarly, export of black tiger shrimp improved by 6.6% in quantity but decreased by 30.3% in dollar earnings," a recent official statement said.

The US is India's largest market for frozen shrimp (134,144 tonnes), followed by the European Union (81,849 tonnes), Southeast Asia (65,188 tonnes), Japan (34,204 tonnes), West Asia (17,477 tonnes), China (9,542 tonnes) and others (31,464 tonnes).