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ITC Votes to Maintain Antidumping Duties on Shrimp from China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam; Trade Relief on Brazilian Shrimp Will End

Today, the Commissioners of the U.S. International Trade Commission voted unanimously (5 to 0) to maintain antidumping duties on unfairly-traded shrimp imports from China, India, Thailand and Vietnam for another five years.  The Commissioners also voted unanimously (5 to 0) to revoke the antidumping duty order on shrimp from Brazil.

Because of the Commission’s vote today, trade relief will continue on shrimp imports from China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam and will not be subject to another sunset review until the summer of 2022.

Once a final determination by the Commission is published in the Federal Register, imports of shrimp from Brazil will no longer be subject to antidumping duties.  Over the last decade (2007 through 2016), the United States had imported a total of US$622,172 worth of frozen, non-breaded warmwater shrimp from Brazil, an average of $62,217 a year.  In the absence of antidumping duties, shipments of Brazilian shrimp are likely to increase although the extent and significance of the likely increase is unknown.

The Commission’s decision to maintain antidumping duties on shrimp imports from China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam came in response to the large-scale participation of U.S. shrimp industry members in the agency’s sunset review.  An unprecedented number of shrimpers provided the Commission with information regarding their business operations between 2012 and the third quarter of 2016.  This data, along with the information supplied by U.S. shrimp processors, was used by the Commission to ascertain the likely impact of revoking trade relief on the U.S. shrimp industry.

In addition to the information supplied by industry members to the Commission, several industry members also traveled to Washington D.C. to give direct testimony to the U.S. International Trade Commission and answer questions posed by Commissioners at a hearing held by the Commission on March 16, 2017.

Further, the shrimp industry’s arguments have been strongly supported by both state and federal elected officials.  Three U.S. Congressmen – Walter Jones (R-NC), Steven Palazzo (R-MS), and Garret Graves (R-LA) – and the Lt. Governor of Louisiana, Billy Nungesser (R-LA), testified in person at the Commission’s hearing in support of the trade relief.  Letters of support for the antidumping duties were submitted by the Governor of the state of Mississippi, Phil Bryant, and, separately, the Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, Jamie Miller, as well as by four U.S. Congressmen – Cedric Richmond (D-LA), Randy Weber (R-TX), Bradley Byrne (R-AL), and Clay Higgins (R-LA) – and by Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL), Luther Strange (R-AL), Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS), Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA).

“The Commission’s vote today shows what the shrimp industry can achieve when it works together towards the same goal,” said John Williams, the Executive Director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance.  “Over the last dozen years, the antidumping duty orders have played an essential role in providing our industry members with the ability to keep working.  We are grateful to all of the elected state and federal officials that stood with us during the sunset review and to everyone in the industry that sacrificed their time, energy, and resources to participate in the Commission’s process.”

Read the U.S. International Trade Commission’s News Release on the vote in the Sunset Reviews here:  https://usitc.gov/press_room/news_release/2017/er0502ll763.htm

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