Uncle Sam may levy duty on Indian shrimp

Duty above 10% will adversely affect industry, fear seafood exporters

The US government is likely to levy a preliminary anti-dumping duty on Indian marine exports after June 8.

Shrimp producers in Andhra Pradesh would suffer the most from the imposition of such a duty, and the industry is expecting the shrimp procurement prices to subsequently drop by around Rs 30-40 per kg.

"At present, 40-45 per cent of the country's shrimp is exported to the US. If the proposed preliminary duty is between five and 10 per cent, then there will not be much of an impact on our exports. But any duty beyond 10 per cent will adversely hit our exports, and the farmers and seafood export companies will incur heavy losses," an exporter said.

Based on a petition by the American shrimp producers, the US government had proposed imposition of anti-dumping duty on exports of Indian shrimp.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC), a self-governing entity of the US Department of Commerce, had sent a 400-page questionnaire to the Vizag-based Devi Seafoods and Nekkanti Seafoods, and Bangalore-based HLL. The Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) hired GSP Associates, a US law firm, to fight the case.

"With the help of GSP Associates' lawyers, we have sent our answers to the questionnaire with complete data to the US ITC about 20 days back," P Brahmanandam, managing director of Devi Seafoods Limited, told Business Standard.

"We are expecting the supplementary questionnaire in the next three to four days. The lawyers hired by the SEAI are also coming to Vizag to guide us in feeding the data for the supplementary questionnaire. Finally in August or September, the US ITC lawyers will visit Vizag to check the data, which were sent by us, in person. In the meantime, the US government is planning to impose a preliminary duty on our marine exports from June 8," he added.

"Due to the anti-dumping duty threat, some of the American buyers are not procuring our material since the last few weeks. The Indian marine exports industry is expecting the preliminary duty from June 8 or 9. Exporters will purchase stock from the farmers depending on the duty rate imposed," NSR Murthy, managing director of Nekkanti Seafoods Limited, told Business Standard.

"At present, buyers are hesitating to purchase the material from the Indian exporters because of the anti-dumping issue. SEAI, on its part, is lobbying for 'zero duty' on shrimp imports from India. If the proposed duty is within the limits, the seafood industry can survive without much problems," Brahmanandam said.