US raises anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimp imports

The US government has raised the anti-dumping duty on import of frozen shrimps from India. The average duty has been increased to 2.51 per cent from 1.69 per cent. Announcing the results of the sixth administrative review (AR), the US Department of Commerce (DoC) reduced the duty for Falcon Marine Exports, the mandatory respondent for the review, to zero. The revised duty is applicable from February 2011 to January 2012.

According to exporters here, this would have little impact on seafood exports to the US as DoC had already decided to modify the method of calculation of anti-dumping duty. This decision of DoC will be effective from 2013, when the seventh administrative review completes.

DoC is modifying its methodology regarding the calculation of weighted-average dumping margins and anti-dumping duty assessment rate. This would, in effect, reduce the duty to a minimum level from the next round of the review.

The new method of calculating duty may lead to de-minimum duty (below 0.5 per cent), which in effect is zero anti-dumping duty.

The US anti-dumping duty on frozen shrimp imports from India was imposed from August 4, 2004. The average duty imposed on Indian companies was 10.17 per cent and in the first AR this was cut to 7.22 per cent. It was further reduced to 1.69 per cent in the second AR and to 0.79 per cent in the third. In the fifth AR, this was raised to 1.69 per cent and now it has been further enhanced to 2.51 per cent.