Exporters Protest US 'Zeroing' In On Indian Shrimp

TheHinduBusinessLine reports that Indian shrimp exports continue to be battered by anti-dumping duty imposed by the US.

The WTO had, in a recent judgement, ruled that the US is violating global trade rules in using the method of zeroing to impose anti-dumping duties on shrimp imports from Viet Nam.

Zeroing is a way in which the US government imposes anti-dumping duty on select shrimp consignments because they fetch lower prices in the US market.

So far, Brazil, Ecuador, Thailand and, more recently, China have taken their complaints 'zeroing' by the US to the WTO and have received favourable rulings.

Mr Anwar Hashim, President of SEAI, has commented that India should follow stead, with the likihood of a favourable ruling being high.

Viet Nam has got rid of the anti-dumping duty due to a favourable ruling, which had been effective since August 2004.

A three-member WTO panel had found zeroing illegal under WTO agreements.

The panel held that the US has acted inconsistently with the provisions of the anti-dumping duty and the GATT and said that the US should bring its calculation method in line with the two agreements.

The ruling comes even as the US Department of Commerce has consistently rejected the Indian submission that zeroing should not be applied.

Currently, anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimp exports for 2011 is at 1.69 per cent. In 2010, anti-dumping duty was at 2.27 per cent while for 2009 it was at 0.79 per cent.