The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has issued its final determinations on countervailing and antidumping duties for shrimp imports for Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam, handing out duties to every country listed.
DOC launched an investigation into imposing countervailing and antidumping duties for frozen warmwater shrimp against the four countries in November 2023 after the American Shrimp Processors Association filed petitions claiming the U.S. shrimp market was being “overwhelmed by massive quantities of underpriced shrimp imports.” In March, the DOC issued its preliminary determination that had Ecuador-based Santa Priscila facing a 13.41 percent countervailing duty, Devi Sea Foods facing a 4.72 percent duty rate, and most shrimp exporters from Vietnam facing a 2.84 percent duty rate.
Alongside the countervailing duty investigation – which determines whether the governments of the respective countries subsidize the shrimp industry – the DOC was also looking into whether Ecuador and Indonesia were performing dumping, or selling shrimp in the U.S. for less than they would sell in their own country. Ecuador was initially hit with a 10.18 percent duty, while Indonesia was hit with a 6.3 percent dumping margin.
The DOC has since revised those antidumping numbers downward. Ecuador’s final dumping duty rate has now been set at 0, as it did not find sufficient evidence of dumping from the companies it investigated – Sociedad Nacional de Galapagos (SONGA) and Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila. Indonesia, however, will face a 3.9 percent antidumping duty, as DOC found evidence that PT First Marine Seafoods/PT Khom Foods engaged in dumping.
While Ecuador escaped dumping duties, it did not escape countervailing duties. The DOC settled on a 3.57 percent countervailing duty for Santa Priscila, a 4.41 percent duty rate for SONGA, and a 3.78 percent rate for all other members of the Ecuadorian shrimp industry. Indonesia's outcome was the inverse of Ecuador – the Asian country faces no countervailing duties for its shrimp.
The other two countries under investigation, India and Vietnam, were also hit with countervailing duties. DOC determined that Devi Sea Foods will be hit with a 5.87 percent duty rate, Sandhya Aqua Exports will be hit with a 5.63 percent rate, and all other members of the shrimp export industry will be hit with a 5.77 percent duty rate. In Vietnam, Soc Trang Seafood Joint Stock Company will be hit with a 2.84 percent duty rate, as will all other shrimp exporters in the country. Thong Thuan Company Limited, meanwhile, was hit with a whopping 221.82 percent dumping duty rate, which DOC said was “based on adverse inferences.”
By law, companies that are subject to countervailing or antidumping duties needed to start putting aside cash deposits equal to the rates determined by the DOC – so when the preliminary determination was made every company impacted had to begin paying duties.
Some sectors are already feeling the effects. Indonesian shrimp companies said they were forced to reduce costs and try and drum up sales in other countries due to the duties.
Now that the DOC has issued its final determination, both the antidumping and countervailing duties are before the International Trade Commission, which must also make its own final determination. That will come on 5 December 2024, and the issuance of orders will take place on 12 December 2024.
