Tom Seaman – Undercurrent News

India is set to have a duty imposed on its shrimp sales to the US, along with several other Asian countries.

However, the early mortality syndrome (EMS) disease decimating production in other countries means India is still in the game, sources said.

On May 29, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) released the preliminary duty rates for shrimp countervailing duties, in which India was given a countrywide level of 5.91%.

Devi Fisheries and Devi Seafoods were given levels of 6.10% and 5.72%, respectively.

“This additional duty would certainly create an additional burden [and] is not good for the India shrimp industry, which has been rapidly growing due to the adoption of white shrimp farming,” said Sree Atluri, an executive with Devi Seafoods.

India is now “certainly at a disadvantage on pricing, when selling to US”, he told Undercurrent News.

However, India is “well placed with good production and availability due to supply issues in other shrimp producing countries”, said Atluri.

EMS, the disease hitting supply in Thailand, Vietnam, China and Malaysia, and supply are the two most important issues for the shrimp sector, said Atluri and other executives asked for opinion by Undercurrent.

When asked if EMS and supply was a bigger issue than the duties, one supplier said simply: “Absolutely”.

Vietnam at 6.07% will be a challenge as they are facing the same raw material constraints as Thailand, said a Thailand-based supplier, referring to the impact of EMS on the industry.

“I would guess they will focus more of their exports to Europe,” he told Undercurrent.

For Thailand, also being hit hard by EMS, Marine Gold Products is rated duty free and other exporters will have 2.09% duty, which could be adjusted down.

The 2.09% duty for Thailand, aside from Marine Gold Products, at de minimus “means further challenges for Thailand, considering the current raw material situation”, said Jim Gulkin, managing director of Siam Canadian Foods, a Bangkok, Thailand-based frozen seafood supplier, when asked about the impact.

“With improved landings in the future, it should be pretty much manageable. Plus, there is a good chance for de minimis, after the final determination in August.”

Indian imports

For January to March, the US imported 17,443 metric tons of shrimp from India, up 69.2% year-on-year.

This put India into third place, just ahead of Indonesia, with 17,442t, behind Thailand and Ecuador, with 23,806t and 17,615t, respectively.

“We can expect a slight slowdown on the shipments to US from India but the increasing trend compared to same period last year is expected to continue,” said Atluri.

Source:

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