The US International Trade Commission (ITC) published its final ruling last Thursday on shrimp imports from China, Thailand, India, Vietnam, Brazil and Ecuador.

According to the ruling, non-canned warm water shrimp and prawns imported from the six countries are being sold at a dumping price and do threaten the US’ domestic industry. The US Department of Commerce will announce final tariff rates, expected to range from 2.3 to 112.8 percent, by the end of this month.

The final ruling by the ITC was expected, but is unfair to Chinese shrimp exporters, said Zhang Zhibiao, deputy secretary-general of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-products.

The chamber is asking domestic shrimp companies to demand fair treatment from the US Court of International Trade.

This ruling also met with criticism in the US: the Association of Marine Products Wholesalers said duties will not only harm the interest of US consumers but will also fail to enhance the competitiveness of American shrimp companies.

The US is the largest export market for China’s prawns, but some domestic shrimp companies are not only opposing anti-dumping measures but expanding into new export markets as a result.

Yue Fanggeng, general manager of Zhoushan Lizhou Aquatic Company Limited, said his firm has stopped shrimp exports to the US and diverted its focus to the EU and other markets.

The anti-dumping investigation was the result of a petition by the US Southern Shrimp Alliance in December 2003, which claimed that Chinese companies were exporting shrimp products at prices lower than their market value.

In July last year, the US Department of Commerce published a preliminary ruling to impose punitive anti-dumping duties ranging from 7.67 to 112.81 percent on Chinese shrimp importers. In November, it reset the duties to between 27.89 and 112.81 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency, translated by Yuan Fang for China.org.cn January 14, 2005)