U.S. importers of seafood from China are facing extra administrative workload to avail themselves of a new tax exclusion, according to a major U.S. importer of Chinese-processed seafood.
Founded in 1947 in Massachusetts, FW Bryce is the U.S. based entity of Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd (also known as Nissui). The special exclusions for nine seafood items introduced on 31 January are “welcome and helpful” according to Ian W Moores, general counsel at the Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based seafood trader.
But “the exclusions themselves are complicated, as is the process for recovering past duties paid. So, it has generated a new level of legal and administrative work.”
Moores in particular points to the exclusions for sole fillets between 50 and 150 grams alongside flounder fillets of between 80 and 200 grams.
“There is no apparent logic for why a 45-gram sole fillet would be taxed, but a 50-gram fillet would enter tax-free. I understand that the USTR [US Trade Representative] is not compelled to create exclusions which are logical, but if there were a logic, we could use the logic in purchase planning so as to see that our imports are duty-free.”
The U.S. exclusion introduced in January covers species like flounder, plaice, and sole, mostly fished in the U.S. and processed in China, with importers entitled to claim tax paid retroactive to the initiation of the duty involved.
But to ensure compliance with the exemption, seafood companies are faced with a laborious process, Moores told SeafoodSource.
“More importantly, flatfish are often sourced and marketed with a fillet range of sizes…not a single gram weight. For instance, a very popular sole product is graded 42.5 grams to 85.0 grams,” he said. “Given the sole exclusion of 50-150 grams, importers [are] left with an item only partially excluded. This creates a problem determining retrospectively if certain old entries qualify for refund … and a production challenge to see that future packs qualify as well. I am sure this sounds simple, but with all the various moving parts in the logistics chain, this is very difficult to administer.”
Photo courtesy of OnlyFOOD/Shutterstock
