Shrimp Import Tariffs Imposed
The Bush administration Tuesday imposed tariffs on shrimp imports from China and Vietnam, finding that companies there were dumping frozen and canned warm-water shrimp products into the United States at artificially low prices.
U.S. seafood distributors and retailers said Americans would face higher shrimp prices at restaurants and in grocery stores if the duties, which take effect this month, were kept.
But shrimpers and processors disputed the claims, contending that those companies’ huge profits could absorb any small increase without passing costs on to consumers.
Tuesday’s decision by the Commerce Department could be confirmed or reversed by the agency in a final decision expected in January. The preliminary ruling was another slap at China on the issue of trade this election year. Last month, the department proposed tariffs on wooden bedroom furniture from China that it said was being dumped into the United States. Vietnam was hit with tariffs on its catfish last year, prompting complaints of U.S. protectionism.
The proposed tariffs on Chinese exporters of frozen and canned warm-water shrimp and prawn range from about 8% to 113%. Vietnam exporters face duties ranging from about 12% to 93%. Those numbers could change as the department continues investigating.
U.S. shrimpers and processors, struggling because of rock-bottom prices since 2001, filed the anti-dumping petition in December, seeking duties on shrimp from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Brazil, Ecuador and India. Those countries account for about 75% of total U.S. imports of frozen and canned warm-water shrimp.
China and Vietnam were considered separately because they are not free-market-based economies. China exported 169 million pounds of shrimp worth $419 million to the United States in 2003, while Vietnam exported almost 125 million pounds worth about $588 million, the department said. A decision on the other countries is expected this month.
“These rulings confirm what the industry is painfully aware of,” said Eddie Gordon, president of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, a group representing warm-water wild shrimp fisheries in eight states.
The initial decision is “a critical step on the road to recovery for tens of thousands of fishermen, farmers and processors devastated by the massive volume of dumped Chinese and Vietnamese shrimp,” Gordon said.
The group says the value of the U.S. harvest dropped more than half from 2000 to 2002, from $1.25 billion to $560 million, because of dumping.
But food distributors and retailers say shrimp consumption in the U.S. will drop and prices will rise as a result of the duties.
The price of shrimp “is clearly going to rise, and it’s going to rise dramatically if these taxes are left in place,” said Wally Stevens, president and chief operating officer of seafood distributor Slade Gorton Co., and chairman of an industry task force opposing the tariffs.
