WASHINGTON: The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on Wednesday voted to retain penalty tariffs that have been imposed on shrimp imports from India and Thailand, rejecting arguments from these two nations that the tariffs should be lifted to help producers hurt by last year's tsunami.

The commission voted that the U.S. industry would continue to be injured by imports of shrimp from India and Thailand if penalty tariffs were removed. The commission's investigation came under a procedure known as "changed circumstances'' which it had launched in April.

Tsunami devastation

Under the review, the commission was faced with determining whether shrimp shipments from India and Thailand had been so curtailed by the devastation from the December 26 tsunami that U.S. shrimpers were no longer being threatened. Both India and Thailand were hit hard by the tsunami which flooded shrimp farms, destroyed fishing boats and killed thousands of fishermen.

However, the effort to remove the penalty tariffs was strongly opposed by U.S. shrimp farmers.

"The ITC properly concluded that the tsunami did not significantly impact the ability of the shrimp industries in India or Thailand to produce and export to this market,'' Joey Rodriquez, president of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, said in a statement. The penalty tariffs were imposed after the Commerce Department ruled that shrimp from Thailand and India was being sold in this country below fair market prices, a practice known as dumping. — AP

Setback to industry

Kochi Staff Reporter writes:

The U.S. International Trade Commission ruling on shrimp imports from India and Thailand is a major setback to the plans of the seafood processing industry, Abraham J. Tharakan, President of Seafood Exporters' Association of India, said on Thursday. Mr. Tharakan told The Hindu that the industry would appeal for a possible reduction in tariff when the issue came up for a hearing. The duty will be for five years.

Customs Bond

Mr. Tharakan said together with the Customs Bond insisted on by the U.S. Department of Commerce on shrimp exported into that country, the anti-dumping duty had delivered a big blow to the seafood industry. He said the seafood exporters had appealed against the Customs Bond demand and expected a positive result.

Marine products exports from India had beaten the post-tsunami predictions to move up more than 11 per cent (in dollar terms) during the last financial year. In 2004-05, seafood exports earned a record $1.4 billion, achieving nearly 12 per cent growth in volume terms and more than nine per cent rise in rupee terms.

Frozen shrimp accounted for about 64 per cent of the value. During 2003-04 exports were 4.12 lakh tonnes worth Rs. 6,092 crore ($1,330.76 million).

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