Shrimp exporters bet on duty cut

The marine export sector, especially shrimp exporters to the US, are in an upbeat mood as the US Department of Commerce (DoC) is expected to reduce the anti-dumping duty on shrimps soon. The DoC is likely to announce the final decision of the first administrative review of the anti-dumping case by the end of July, with the exporters betting on a likely reduction in the duty.

The exporters feel that the sharp reduction in the duty imposed on Ecuador and India's strong arguments before the DoC could influence the decision in their favour. Following the preliminary review, the DoC had raised the weighted average duty from 10.17 per cent to 10.54 per cent. Seventeen companies were also slapped the Adverse Facts Available (AFA) duty at the rate of 82.30 per cent.

Meanwhile, 130 exporters from India have submitted the Quantity and Value (Q&V) questionnaires for the second administrative review which is progressing currently.

From this group, a few companies would be selected as mandatory respondents for the review. This is expected to be announced by September, 2007, which will be crucial in the second leg review. Hindustan Lever (HLL), Falcon Marine and Liberty Group were the mandatory respondents for the first review since they were the leading exporters to the US market. Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), the original petitioners in the case, and Louisiana Shrimp Association (LSA) have already requested the DoC not to select the mandatory respondents according to the size of exports, since they cannot be considered as true samples of exporters. But the DoC had earlier announced that the selection would be based on the volume of exports to the US market.