US Department of Commerce accepts lawsuit against Vietnamese shrimp

On January 18, the US Department of Commerce officially accepted a petition from a number of US businesses to sue shrimp imported from Vietnam and six other countries for alleged dumping.

Harvesting white-leg shrimp on sandy land in Duc Minh commune, Mo Duc district, Quang Ngai. (Photo: Thanh Long/VNA)

Accordingly, the US International Trade Commission (USITC) also held a public discussion session with the participation of US businesses and representatives of seven countries whose shrimp products are being sued.

According to a VNA reporter in Washington, American businesses such as Carson & Co. Inc, Tidelands Seafood Co. Inc and Gulf Fish Inc filed the lawsuit, arguing that government-subsidized frozen warm-water shrimp imported into the US from seven countries: Vietnam, China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ecuador have "caused serious damage" to the US shrimp industry.

According to these companies, due to not being able to compete on price, in just a short period from September 2011 to September 2012, shrimp output in the US decreased by 0.1%, production capacity decreased by 3.8%, shrimp catch decreased by 9.5%, the number of workers decreased by 2.2%, total profits decreased by 8.6%, and production income decreased by 247.8%.

American businesses accused the seven countries of receiving government subsidies totaling $4.2 billion in 2011. Specifically, Thailand was the country with the highest subsidy for shrimp exports to the US, up to $1.6 billion. Next, in turn, were Indonesia (667 million USD), Ecuador (524 million USD), India (512 million USD), Vietnam (493 million USD), Malaysia (206 million USD) and China (154 million USD).

Representatives of the seven countries said that the accusation of receiving government subsidies to reduce shrimp export prices to the US is baseless. The shrimp industries of the seven countries, including Vietnam, simply have advantages from natural conditions, standardized farming and processing processes, and especially cheap labor resources. This anti-dumping lawsuit is actually just to seek protection for the US shrimp industry, and directly affects the interests of US consumers.

Previously, on January 15, representatives of the Vietnamese Trade Office in Washington had a meeting with the US Department of Commerce to protest allegations that frozen warm-water shrimp exported from Vietnam to the US were subsidized.

The US Department of Commerce will base on the preliminary conclusion of the US International Trade Commission on the lawsuit expected to be issued before February 11, to continue the investigation and a preliminary decision may be made next March and is expected to announce the final conclusion in July./.

According to (TTXVN) - LT