Shrimp imports account for a major portion of the total value of all imported goods subject to antidumping duty orders. In FY2016, according to CBP’s report, shrimp imports comprised 23% of the total import value subject to antidumping duties.
CBP also reported that the agency liquidated (assessed) nearly $124 million in antidumping duties on shrimp imports in FY2016 on imports that had previously entered the U.S. market. In total, shrimp imports, on their own, accounted for nearly $1 out of every $5 in antidumping duties liquidated (assessed) by CBP in FY2016.
The liquidation of antidumping duties is the first step taken by CBP in collecting antidumping duties owed to the U.S. Treasury. CBP’s ability to collect on bills issued as the result of final liquidation rates that are higher than the estimated cash deposits made at the time of import entry is limited. In the agency’s report, CBP explained that, as of the end of FY2016, the agency had 54,704 unpaid antidumping and countervailing duty bills, totaling approximately $2.8 billion in outstanding debt.
Although uncollected antidumping and countervailing duties have been a major concern for both CBP and Congress, this problem has not impacted shrimp imports significantly. In total, CBP reports that there were $13 million in uncollected antidumping duty bills outstanding on shrimp imports at the close of FY2016. In comparison, as shown in the table below, most food products subject to antidumping duty orders are characterized by massive amounts of uncollected antidumping duty bills.
