December 21, 2004

Anti-Dumping Tariff on India's Shrimp Exports Adjusted

The anti-dumping duty rates on Indian shrimp exports have been revised by the US Commerce Department.

The Commerce Department upheld a finding that India, Brazil, Ecuador and Thailand were dumping shrimps at unfair prices.

"The department found that producers/exporters have sold frozen and canned warm water shrimp from India, Brazil, Ecuador and Thailand in the US market at less than fair value," the DOC said.

The Commerce Department revised import duties for India to 5.02 - 13.42 per cent from 3.56 - 27.49 per cent.

For the other countries, the Commerce Department revised import duties for Ecuador to 2.35 - 4.48 per cent from an initial range of 6.08-9.35, and for Thailand to 5.79 - 6.82 per cent from 5.56 to 10.25.

But Brazil's duties were raised to 9.69 - 67.80 per cent from a previous range of zero to 67.80.

The quasi-judicial US International Trade Commission (ITC) must meet about January 31 to decide whether the imports threaten US industry, and if so, to issue the final anti-dumping order.

In the meantime, importers pay estimated duties in the form of a bond pending the final decision.

The department had set anti-dumping duties in a range of 27.89 to 112.81 per cent for Chinese imports and 4.13 to 25.76 percent for Vietnamese imports last month.

China and Vietnam were treated separately because they are not considered to be market economies. A final order for those two countries is expected by the US International Trade Commission about January 12.