To the dismay of the Indian seafood export sector, the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has ordered to continue with the anti-dumping duty imposed on frozen shrimp imports from India for the next five years.
A commission panel, comprising of six judges, voted 5-1 in favour of continuing the duty as revocation of the duty may hamper the prospects of local shrimp producers. USITC has rejected a petition filed by the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) in this regard.
In the first week of this month, the US Department of Commerce (DoC) announced the preliminary results of the fifth administrative review (AR) of the anti-dumping duty. The average duty for India was reduced to 1.69 per cent from 2.67 per cent.
Falcon Marine Exports and Apex Exports, the two mandatory respondents of the review, would attract a duty of 1.36 per cent and 2.31 per cent respectively. These rates were effective for a period of one-year commencing February 1, 2009.
The anti dumping duty on frozen shrimp imports from India to the US was imposed provisionally with effect from August 4, 2004 and the levy was confirmed through the anti-dumping duty order dated February 1, 2005.
According to the order, the average duty imposed on Indian companies was 10.17 per cent and in the first AR this was reduced to 7.22 per cent. This was further reduced to 1.69 per cent in the second AR and to 0.79 per cent in the third review. But, to the dismay of Indian exporters, the duty was raised to 2.67 per cent in the next round.
The Indian seafood export sector was hoping for ‘nil duty’ as the duty was being reduced in each round of the AR. (Duty below 0.50 per cent is considered as nil duty.)
US is the second largest importer of frozen shrimp, with a 17.43 per cent share of the total Indian seafood exports of 547,249 tonnes valued at Rs 9,187.18 crore in April-December period of the current financial year. The US market registered a remarkable growth of 110.68 per cent in dollar realisation and 49.13 per cent in terms of quantity during the period.
Now, the Indian seafood export sector is hitching hopes on the final results of the fifth AR. But the verdict of USITC is a serious setback at this juncture. The final result of the fifth AR would be crucial to India’s seafood exports to the US market.
