$42.05 Million in Byrd Funds Available for Distribution to Shrimp Industry in FY2012
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sent letters last week to qualified applicants for Byrd fund distributions indicating that $42.05 million in collected antidumping duties will be available for distribution to the shrimp industry for fiscal year (FY) 2012.
Since FY2006, $266.4 million in collected antidumping duties have been made available for distribution to the shrimp industry pursuant to the Continued Dumping Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA). The amount available for distribution this year to shrimp industry claimants is the second highest in the history of the program.
In total, CBP received claims from shrimp industry members of between $2.7 and $2.8 billion in qualified expenditures. The specific composition of these claims will not be known until CBP publishes its annual report on Byrd distributions.
The $42.05 million made available for distribution is not equivalent to the amount actually distributed. In a notice dated November 21, 2012, CBP announced that it would be withholding some distributions of duties collected on shrimp imports (as well as a few other products) because of continuing litigation from parties seeking to be declared eligible to receive Byrd funds.
Antidumping duties collected on imports of shrimp entered before October 1, 2007 are distributed through the Byrd program. Funds will continue to be distributed, in diminishing amounts, under the Byrd program until all litigation regarding those shrimp import entries is resolved and final duties are assessed and collected by CBP.
The total amount of duties collected and made available for distribution is provided on a year by year basis in the following tables:
Read the CBP’s November 21st notice regarding withholding of distributions here: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/priority_trade/add_cvd/cont_dump/withheld_funds.xml