Govt to take up marine anti-dumping duty case

India to take on US over misuse of dumping duty on shrimps.

India is seriously considering joining the European Union (EU), Thailand, Brazil and Japan to challenge the US practice of distorting the concept of zeroing of anti-dumping duty on various marine products, including shrimps.

The Union commerce ministry has sought a report from Marine Products Export Development Authority on the issue to address the problems of marine products exporters following the misuse of anti-dumping duty by the USA.

Thailand has already lodged a formal complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the US anti-dumping duty on shrimps. Besides, it has joined hands with Brazil, Japan and the EU to challenge the US on the issue.

The WTO norms state that anti-dumping duty should not be imposed on products sold at prices higher than the cost of production, other expenses and reasonable profit factored into.

The concept of zeroing states that prices of such products should be considered as zero for calculating anti-dumping duty, thereby exempting them from the duty.

The norms require anti-dumping duty to be imposed on products whose prices are remarkably lower than the production cost, other expenses and reasonable profit.

On such products, anti-dumping duty can be computed taking the selling price into account. The norms require anti-dumping duty to be imposed on a discriminatory basis by adhering to the concept of zeroing and imposing various levels of the duty based on the differential prices of the products.

However, the US, without adhering to the principles of zeroing in letter and spirit, has been imposing anti-dumping duty on marine products even when they are sold at higher prices.

The US has been making false claims of violation of the anti-dumping clause on high-priced products, indiscriminately imposing anti-dumping duty on marine products, said a shrimps exporter.

The US commerce department had imposed an anti-dumping duty of 10.17 per cent on shrimps exported from India. It has seriously affected the country's exports to the USA, which is the second largest importer of marine products from the country.

Meanwhile, the US commerce department is reviewing the case of anti-dumping duty imposed on India and other exporting countries and a verdict is expected soon.