US sets final duties on Asia, Latin America shrimp

The US Commerce Department set final anti-dumping duties ranging from 2.35 percent to nearly 68 percent on Monday on shrimp from Thailand, Brazil, Ecuador and India, industry officials said. Commerce set duties for Thailand, the largest of the four suppliers, ranging from 5.79 percent to 6.82 percent, down from preliminary levels of 5.56 percent to 10.25 percent in July.
Commerce kept a final duty of nearly 68 percent on one company from Brazil, but scaled back duties for imports from Ecuador and India, the industry aides said.
Eddie Gordon, president of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, which represents shrimpers in eight southern US states, welcomed the Commerce Department's decision, even though many duties were reduced from previously announced levels.
"US shrimp fishermen and farmers use the most advanced technology and are very efficient producers of shrimp, but some of our trading partners have been cheating and causing US businesses to close and thousands of Americans to lose their jobs," Gordon said in a statement.
Last week, Thailand challenged preliminary US duty levels at the World Trade Organisation on the grounds that the methodology used by the United States to determining the level of "dumping" violated international trade rules.
Brazil, which faces final duties ranging from 9.69 percent to nearly 68 percent, has also threatened a WTO complaint.
Final duties for Ecuador range from 2.35 percent to 4.48 percent, down significantly from preliminary levels of 6.08 percent to 9.35 percent, industry sources said.
Commerce set duties ranging from 5.02 percent to 13.42 on imports from India, in general down significantly from the July range of 3.56 percent to 27.49 percent.
In a related case, the Commerce Department set final duties last month of up to 112.81 percent on shrimp from China and up to 25.76 percent on shrimp from Vietnam.
The US International Trade Commission will make a final decision on the anti-dumping duties in early January. Duties on individual countries will go into effect if the ITC determines imports from that country have materially injured, or threaten to materially injure, US producers.