According to information from the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), on March 26, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) announced preliminary anti-subsidy duties on shrimp from Vietnam, India and Ecuador.
Accordingly, three of the four largest suppliers of farmed shrimp to the US will be forced to pay preliminary countervailing duties (CVD) ranging from 1.69% - 196% starting this weekend. Meanwhile, Indonesia, the third largest shrimp supplier to the US, has been removed from the review list.
DOC has previously begun soliciting a list of exporters and tariff proponents that it has determined (pending a full investigation) are likely to be providing subsidy programs that allow businesses to set artificially low prices in the U.S. market, in violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
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| Processing shrimp for export. Illustration photo |
The countervailing duty rates will take effect as soon as DOC publishes the information in the Federal Register, which is expected to happen in the next few days.
The duties will be refunded if investigators determine that the importing countries did not commit illegal subsidies or if the subsidized imports did not harm the U.S. shrimp industry.
However, a final ruling is not expected until fall or winter 2024, meaning importers will likely face the cost of tax deposits on shrimp exports for much of the remainder of 2024.
Specifically, immediately after the DOC's decision is officially announced, shrimp importers from India will have to deposit 4.72% for shrimp imported from Devi Sea Foods, 3.89% from Sandhya Aqua Exports and 4.36% from all other Indian suppliers.
Shrimp importers from Ecuador will have to deposit 13.41% for shrimp imported from Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila, 1.69% from Sociedad Nacional de Galapagos (SONGA) and 7.55% from all other Ecuadorian suppliers.
For shrimp from Vietnam, the deposit requirement will be 2.84% for Stapimex, 196.41% for Thong Thuan and 2.84% for all other Vietnamese suppliers.
DOC has made a preliminary determination that there is no subsidy for Indonesian companies, so Indonesian shrimp will not need to be deposited.
India, Ecuador, Indonesia and Vietnam are the four countries targeted by DOC in this review, accounting for 90% of the total 788,209 tons of shrimp imported into the US in 2023.
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