Vietnam’s leading shrimp company, Minh Phu Seafood, said it will appeal a ruling made by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that concluded its U.S. importer affiliate evaded the antidumping duty order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp from India.
In its affirmative determination released on 13 October, CBP said there is “substantial evidence” that Minh Phu had imported shrimp from India, processed at its production facilities in Vietnam and exported to the U.S. through its subsidiary MSeafood.
CBP said it made the conclusion after Minh Phu failed to provide information it requested, including “tracing imported shrimp’s bill of ladings to specific exported shrimp, which would allow CBP to trace its imports of Indian-origin shrimp through its production processes to its sales.” The U.S. agency also noted that Minh Phu has a history of comingling Indian-origin shrimp with Vietnamese-origin shrimp.
In a statement released on 22 October, Minh Phu said the U.S. agency’s decision came as a surprise, and said it fully cooperated with CBP during the investigation. The Vietnamese company said it did not comingle Indian shrimp with Vietnamese shrimp and had proved it to CBP. Minh Phu’s tracing system has been approved by NOAA under the Seafood Import Monitoring Program, and it invited CBP to visit its factories in Vietnam, but a visit never ocurred. Instead, the U.S. agency has used its own tracing method, which is different from Minh Phu’s and has not been used in the shrimp industry.
“We believe that CBP’s decision has been made based on unreasonable requests to Minh Phu and has not come from persuasive evidence,” the company said.
If it disagrees with the coming administrative review, Minh Phu will make an appeal at the U.S. Court of International Trade, it said.
Minh Phu had said in January it has to pay a cash deposit rate of 10.17 percent for its shrimp products exported to the U.S. following the announcement of the formal investigation being carried out by the CBP.
In the conclusion on 13 October, CBP said shrimp import entries into the U.S. by MSeafood will continue to be treated as subject to the antidumping duty order on shrimp from India. CBP said it will assess the duties in case it is instructed by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Under EAPA, the importer can request an administrative review of CBP’s determination if it disagrees with the conclusion.
Photo courtesy of MSeafood
