Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced preliminary determinations in the subsidy investigations of frozen warmwater shrimp imports from China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The cash deposit rates announced, along with the relative volume of the shrimp imports represented by each country, are summarized in the table below.
|
Country |
2012 Volume (in metric tons) |
Cash Deposit Rates
|
|
Thailand |
122,000 |
Marine Gold – de minimis All others – 2.09%
|
|
Ecuador |
72,000 |
De minimis
|
|
Indonesia |
71,000 |
De minimis
|
|
India |
65,000 |
Devi Fisheries Ltd. – 6.10% Devi Seafoods Ltd. – 5.72% All others – 5.91%
|
|
Vietnam |
38,000 |
Minh Qui Seafoods Co. Ltd. – 5.08% Nha Trang Seaproduct Co. – 7.05% All others – 6.07%
|
|
Malaysia |
19,000 |
Asia Aquaculture (M) Sdn. Bhd. – 10.80% All others – 62.74%
|
|
China |
14,000 |
5.76%
|
Commerce’s announcement means that exporters accounting for at least 36% of the frozen warmwater shrimp import volume in 2012 from the seven investigated countries will not be subject to any additional duties at the border. Further, unless Commerce changes its determination in the final phase of its investigations, imports from Ecuador, Indonesia, and the Thai exporter Marine Gold would not be subject to any trade relief.
These investigations were brought at the behest of the Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries (COGSI). In the course of Commerce’s proceedings, COGSI has argued that, for the purposes of the agency’s analysis, the domestic shrimp industry is composed only of shrimp processors and does not include shrimp fishermen or farmers. COGSI has also pursued an amendment to the scope of the investigations to specifically exclude “onboard brine frozen shrimp” from any possible trade relief. In response to these arguments, Commerce also announced a preliminary determination today that the scope of the investigation did, in fact, include “onboard brine frozen shrimp.” Commerce also rejected COGSI’s request to specifically exclude this product, stating that the agency was “concerned” that acceptance of COGSI’s request “would invite circumvention of any eventual orders . . . .”
Read Commerce’s countervailing duty preliminary fact sheet here:
Read Commerce’s preliminary scope determination here:
https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Scope-Memo.pdf