The Hindu Business Line : US dumping probe delay may hit shrimp sector

THE 50-day delay announced by the US Department of Commerce in determining the dumping margin on Indian shrimp exports , is likely to adversely affect the shrimp industry.

The date for announcing the dumping margin on Indian shrimp exports to the US has been postponed from June 8 to July 28.

Mr G. Mohan Kumar, Chairman of the Marine Products Export Development Authority, told Business Line: ``Further delays would just create greater uncertainty in the Indian shrimp industry. The US importers would defer their orders further, the Indian exporters would postpone their sourcing operations, leading to further plunge in domestic shrimp prices.''

``This is the maximum postponement permitted under the statute,'' sources in the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) pointed out. It could be that the US agencies did not have enough time to study the data supplied or could not devise a strong case against Indian exporters. Hence, they seeking more time, the sources said.

Three of the biggest Indian shrimp exporters to the US, the Bangalore unit of HLL, Nekkandanthi Seafood and Devi Fisheries of Andhra Pradesh had been identified and details of their sourcing, pricing, processing and export statistics had been supplied to the US authorities for the last couple of years, sources in SEAI said.

The US was supposed to send a team to these companies and ascertain the authenticity of the data supplied by them . Based on these findings, the US will determine if Indian companies have been dumping shrimp in the US markets. If so, anti-dumping duties will be levied on Indian shrimp exports to the US. Since the date for determining the extent of dumping margins have been extended by 50 days, the visit of the US team will also have been postponed.

So far, no intimation has come on the US team's visit to India, nor on the composition of the team.

The decision of the US to investigate the dumping of Indian shrimp into the US markets has hit the Indian industry hard.

With insufficient export orders, the prices in Indian markets have fallen and the shrimp farmers and fishermen have suffered.

The rising shrimp catch from the sea coupled with the onset of the monsoon, maydepress the prices even further.