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| Relief from bond eludes seafood exports to US | |
| Bs Reporter / Kochi September 12, 2008, 3:11 IST | |
Implementation of the decision of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to dismantle the continuous bond requirement (CBR) on import of seafood items from India and Thailand will be delayed further.
The US administration has adopted a delaying tactics to avoid implementation of the verdict that was announced on August 1, 2008. The cut-off date for the implementation of the decision is September 15, but the US administration has sought further clarification on the decision.
In this context, the WTO has called for a consultative meeting of India, Thailand and USA on September 10. G Mohankumar, chairman, Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) will be representing India at this crucial meeting, to be held at Geneva. The US administration is reportedly trying to postpone the implementation of DSB ruling.
DSB had adopted reports of panel of judges and Appellate Body in the cases filed by India and Thailand concerning CBR on export of shrimp to the US. DSB proclaimed that the bond requirement imposed by the US Customs since February 1, 2005, was illegal and in violation of global trade practices. This was a major breakthrough for both India and Thailand on the export of warm water shrimp. But Washington is reluctant to implement the decision in order to protect the domestic shrimp aquaculture sector.
The strict imposition of CBR had made export to the US almost impossible and the number of Indian exporters to the US has dropped to 81 from 258 in 2004. India’s export to the US had been hit badly due to this and EU, China and Japan has emerged as the largest importers of Indian seafood items in recent years. A few years back, USA was the largest importer of Indian shrimps. The US share in Indian seafood export basket had dropped to 6.72 per cent in 2007-08 due to CBR and heavy anti-dumping duty.
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