The United States Department of Commerce has increased the anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimp to 2.34% from 0.84% in the preliminary results of the department’s administrative review for 2016–2017.
The United States Department of Commerce has increased the anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimp to 2.34% from 0.84% in the preliminary results of the department’s administrative review for 2016–2017. The administrative review reports that Indian exporters have made below normal value sales to the US in the year of review and are subject to anti-dumping duties. There would be no impact on exports from India unless the final results of the review, expected in 120 days after the preliminary reports, are accepted by the Department of Commerce. India has been the largest exporter of frozen shrimp to the US in 2017 with 32% share after some south Asian producers like Thailand suffered due to diseases in fish farms.
The anti-dumping duty is calculated after individual examination of two mandatory respondents from nearly 231 Indian exporters. The anti-dumping duty on imports from Vietnam has been fixed at 25.39 % for the year in review. Seafood exporters pay a cash deposit based on the administrative review from which the US government applies the duties. The US Department of Commerce conducts such reviews on a periodic basis to update and assess duties. The US government imposed an anti-dumping duty on frozen warm-water Indian shrimps in 2004, saying that it was hurting US shrimp farmers.
The Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries (COGSI), an association of shrimp farmers, has been fighting against aquaculture shrimp imports into US, claiming that artificially low-priced imported shrimp from seven countries including India have suppressed and depressed domestic prices, eroded domestic sales, destroyed US jobs and eliminated the operating margins of domestic producers.
The impact of the anti-dumping duty from 2004 was dramatic on Indian exports. Indian shrimp exporting companies to US fell to less than 75 from 228 at the time of imposition of the punitive duties. Currently, the punitive tariff on Indian shrimp exports stands at 0.84 %.
In the last few years, Indian seafood exports are seen recouping its losses suffered due to the punitive tariff imposed by US in 2004 with the help of vannamei shrimp production, which is cheaper than the traditional black tiger. In 2016-17 India exported 11,34, 948 MT of seafood, principally frozen shrimp and frozen fish, worth `37,870.90 crore and provisional export figures for April-November 2017 have shown an increase of 18.72% and 15.16% respectively in volume and value (in US Dollars) of seafood exports. The export earnings are expected to cross $6 billion during the current fiscal, buoyed by aquaculture growth, enhanced processing capacity and favourable market conditions.
