U.S. authorities are in process of reviewing antidumping duty orders on shrimp from India, China, Thailand, and Vietnam and will ultimately determine whether duties will continue to be imposed.
This is the third five-year review – or sunset review as called by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) – that has ever been conducted since the imposition of the U.S.' antidumping regime in 2005.
The initiation of the ongoing sunset review was announced by the DOC on 2 May, 2022, after which the trade groups Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee (AHSTAC) and the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) submitted necessary documents to participate in the review.
In 2005, AHSTAC was the organization that filed formal petitions requesting the imposition of antidumping duties be imposed on foreign shrimp suppliers in order to protect the U.S.' domestic industry from what it claimed were unfair trade practices.
After an expedited review of the filings it received, the DOC has determined “that revocation of the orders would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping and that the magnitude of the dumping margins likely to prevail would be weighted-average margins up to 112.81 percent for China, up to 110.90 percent for India, up to 5.34 percent for Thailand, and up to 25.76 percent for Vietnam,” according to a DOC notice published on the Federal Register on 6 September.
However, a final decision on whether the antidumping duties will continue to be imposed will only be made after another U.S. government agency, the U.S. International Trade Commission, conducts the final phase of its review. In a recent notice, the commission said it will proceed with full reviews to evaluate the antidumping duty orders, a schedule of which is expected to be announced “at a later date.”
During its full reviews, the commission will gather information from U.S. shrimp fishermen, farmers, and processors to consider whether the U.S. domestic shrimp industry would be materially affected if the antidumping duties were abolished.
The sunset review differs administrative review that the DOC has undertaken on an annual basis, under which it will determine whether exporters from India, China, Thailand, and Vietnam sell their shrimp into the U.S. at less than fair value during a certain period.
In the final results of its 13th administrative review of its antidumping duty order on frozen warm-water shrimp from Vietnam (POR13) from 1 February, 2017, to 31 January, 2018, announced in August 2019, the DOC eliminated the antidumping duty imposed on products from Fimex (Sao Ta), NTSF Seafoods, and 29 other shrimp exporters from Vietnam.
The Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam said on 8 September that the DOC has canceled two administrative reviews – POR14 and POR15 – for Vietnamese companies. But the U.S. agency is conducting a new review, POR16, for the period spanning 1 February, 2021, to 31 January, 2022.
The Vietnamese agency said it will work closely with the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and the country’s shrimp exporters to handle issues related to the U.S. sunset reviews and the POR16.
Separately, in November 2021, the DOC decided to levy a same rate of 7.15 percent on 152 Indian shrimp exporters in its final results of the 15th administrative review of the antidumping duty order on frozen warmwater shrimp from India.
Photo courtesy of Ai Han/Shutterstock
