U.S. Upholds Duties on Shrimp

The Bush administration on Tuesday upheld the imposition of penalty tariffs on shrimp imports from China and Vietnam, handing a victory to beleaguered U.S. shrimp producers.

The action affirmed with slight modifications a preliminary ruling by the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration last summer. The penalty tariffs have been collected by border agents since July.

The department is scheduled to make a final decision on shrimp imports from four other countries -- Brazil, Ecuador, India and Thailand -- in late December.

Together, the six countries provide about 75% of the shrimp that Americans eat. U.S. food distributors contend that the penalty tariffs will drive up shrimp prices at restaurants and grocery stores.

In the decision Tuesday, the government set duties on Chinese exports of frozen and canned warm-water shrimp at levels of 27.9% to 112.8%. Vietnamese shrimp exports will be hit with duties of 4.1% to 25.8%.

The tariffs were imposed because a government investigation found that shrimp from those nations was being sold in the U.S. market at unfairly low prices, a practice known as dumping.

The ruling came in a case brought by the Southern Shrimp Alliance, which has been dealing with rock-bottom prices for shrimp since 2001. It alleged the U.S. industry was on the brink of destruction because of the flood of cheap foreign shrimp.

Foreign shrimp producers have denied they are selling shrimp at artificially low prices as a way to win a larger share of the U.S. market. They contend the U.S. needs foreign imports because the domestic supply is not large enough to meet demand for shrimp, the country’s No. 1 seafood.