KOCHI: The seafood exporters from the country can heave a sigh of relief. Announcing the final result of the third administrative review of the anti-dumping duty on certain varieties of shrimp exported from India, the US Department of Commerce has made it clear that the results do not differ from the preliminary results announced earlier.
It was in 2004 that the US commerce department originally slapped the anti-dumping duty on six shrimp exporting countries including India. Originally the anti-dumping duty was fixed at 10.2%. However, successive reviews brought it down to reasonable levels.
In the preliminary results of the third administrative review, announced earlier this year, duty was brought down further to 0.8%. For this review, the US administration had selected two mandatory respondents, namely, Devi Sea Foods and Falcon Marine Exports. The final review has made no change in the anti-dumping duty rates.
In the case of Devi Sea Foods, the duty is less than 0.5% or zero duty, while Falcon would continue to attract 0.8%. The third administrative is for the period February 1, 2007 to January 31, 2008. The review covers 156 producers/exporters.
Anti-dumping duty on certain shrimp varieties exported from the country was brought down to 7.2% from 10.2% in the first administrative review. In the second administrative review the duty was further reduced to 1.7%.
The preliminary results of the third administrative review further announced a cut in the duty to 0.8%. The seafood exporters in the country have furnished all the relevant data for the fourth administrative review.
The preliminary results of the review are expected to be announced in February 2010. Despite the reduction, the provision by the US Customs and Border Protection that the exporters had to execute a cash bond for exporting to the US put them in a tight spot. However, following a WTO ruling that the cash bond is against international trade practices, the US withdrew the requirement.
The seafood exports from the country stood at Rs 8,607.94 crore in 2008-09. In quantity terms, the exports stood at 602,835 tonnes. The largest importer of Indian seafood was the EU.
Before the announcement of the anti-dumping duty on shrimp exported from the country, the US was the largest trading partner of India in the case of seafood. However, by 2008-09, US had slipped to fourth position, while the China was in the second slot followed by Japan in the third position.
Source : The Economic Times