U.S. shrimp farmers file complaint on imports

Waterbury Republican-American ^ | 01/01/04 | Bloomberg News

[Holly_P]

A coalition of U.S. shrimp farmers filed a trade complaint seeking to curb $2.4 billion of annual shrimp imports from Thailand, China, Brazil, Vietnam, India and Ecuador.

In a filing with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission, the Southern Shrimp Alliance asked for tariffs of as much as 267 percent on frozen and canned shrimp from the six countries, which account for three-quarters of shrimp imports.

U.S. producers say wholesale shrimp prices have fallen by more than 26 percent since 2000 because of a flood of imports. The case alleges that the foreign producers are illegally dumping their product in the U.S. at prices below what they charge in their own countries. Shrimp is America's most popular seafood, according to government statistics.

"The U.S. shrimp industry is in dire straits," said Eddie Gordon, president of the U.S. group. The coalition is based in Tarpon Springs, Fla., and represents shrimpers from Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

The case, which has been discussed among shrimp farmers and processors for more than a year, may lead to the largest and broadest U.S. trade dispute since the Bush administration levied tariffs on steel in March 2002. The steel tariffs covered $3 billion in annual imports.

The projected record U.S. trade deficit of $120 billion with China this year has encouraged lawmakers and U.S. manufacturers to call for more protection against imports from the world's most populous nation. The U.S. has already put limits on the shipment of Chinese and Vietnamese apparel, drawing angry rebukes from producers in both countries.

Imports of shrimp from the six countries jumped 28 percent since 2000 to 650 million pounds in 2002, the U.S. industry says. Tariffs sought under the complaint would range from 57 percent for Thailand to 267 percent for China.

The case will be considered by both U.S. government agencies. The Department of Commerce will need to decide next month whether to initiate an investigation, and the International Trade Commission by mid-February will make an initial determination on whether the U.S. industry is being hurt by the imports. Preliminary duties may be in place by March.

U.S. shrimpers, mainly independent operators with just one boat, are following a similar case initiated last year against catfish from Vietnam. U.S. producers won duties in July of as much as 64 percent on imports of frozen catfish from the Southeast Asia country.

"It is saddening that the actual victims of these lawsuits in regard to Vietnam, as in the previous irrational catfish case, are again poor farmers," said Bach Ngoc Chien, the press attach at the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington, in an emailed response to questions.

The American Seafood Distributors Association opposes tariffs on shrimp, arguing they would raise costs and would target producers that are simply more efficient than those in the U.S. The trade group's members include Darden Restaurants Inc., which operates Red Lobster restaurants, and Sysco Corp., North America's largest food-service distributor.

Darden shares fell 3 cents to close at $21.04 on the New York Stock Exchange. Sysco stock closed down 10 cents at $37.23.

"Continuing access to imported shrimp is essential to the financial well-being of literally thousands of American businesses and individuals," said Wally Stevens, the president of the group, in a statement.

Foreign suppliers say their advantage lies in farming the seafood rather than trawling for it as U.S. shrimpers do.

"The real price of shrimp has tended to decline in recent years, largely because world shrimp supplies have grown" with the farming of shrimp, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in last year's annual report on the state of U.S. fisheries.

Vietnam and China have complained that the U.S. has advocated free trade and open markets while erecting barriers to their most competitive products, such as textiles and seafood.

"A good chunk of the growth in Vietnamese exports to the U.S. has been shrimp," said David Dapice, an economist in the Vietnam program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "Any successful Vietnamese export seems to get hit by protectionist measures."

"We need to find a solution to the trade deficit issue through the expansion of trade," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said at Harvard University earlier this month. "To cut back on China's exports is not the way."

The case may also complicate efforts by the U.S. to negotiate a lowering of general trade barriers with Brazil, Ecuador and Thailand. Thailand, the largest shrimp importer to the U.S., is to start negotiating a free trade agreement with the U.S. next year.

Officials at the Thai, Chinese and Brazilian embassies didn't return telephone calls Wednesday afternoon.

The case will be "a long, hard slog. Every issue in this case is going to be a fight," said Matthew McConkey, an attorney at Coudert Brothers LLP in Washington, a firm that specializes in anti-dumping cases.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[EggsAckley]

"The U.S. shrimp industry is in dire straits,"

Where is Forrest Gump when ya need him.......?

[angkor]

Vietnamese shrimp farming is done primarily by small family operations, and has grown specifically to satisfy the American market. There is no such thing as a Vietnamese shrimp "conglomerate" at the production level. Absurd.

And there's no way on earth the Vietnamese would "dump" shrimp at a loss, since neither individual farmers nor the government could afford it.

It's a ludicrous charge.

[NonValueAdded]

Will increased imports get those damned people off the causeways at night? I keep waiting for one of them to jab their net pole into a passing car.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[DeepDish]

"Many turned to the American market after Japan and the European Union restricted their import of shrimps from markets including Vietnam, over concerns about the use of antibiotics in seafood production."

Excerpt from BBC on this subjuct.

Link to BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3361187.stm

Actually The shrimp had been grown for markets where they are now banned.

[angkor]

Actually The shrimp had been grown for markets where they are now banned.

That's an imprecise statement and factually untrue.

The Vietnamese have been shrimping for the American market for almost 10 years, and I know several Vietnamese-Americans who've financed those operations. That is a fact.

Vietnam cannot and does not have the financial resources or sufficient organization of export capacity to support a "dumping" program. That also is a fact.

Finally, the BBC article you cite doesn't distinguish Vietnam with any precision, so I can understand why you might have been mislead by it.

[DeepDish]

When goods that a country has been exporting are restricted then the restricted item must compete with a smaller existing market thus driving their earnings down. Hence, whether or not it qualifies as "dumping" or not, the end result is the same. The shrimp that was banned by the EU now is sold to the US at a lower price.

It would be nice to have more precise data, but the article did not provide it. This is typical of the BBC.

I concede the imprecision but I stand by the facts and the market forces at work here. I also resented EU slamming the door on the Vietnamese, using unfounded junk science for the lock.

Thunderstorm coming, must shut down to protect modem, see ya
later.

[farmfriend]

Given your handle, I'm going to assume you know what you are talking about. Glad to see you on this thread.

[angkor]

Well if Vietnamese shrimp export to the EU had been 99 percent and to the US 1 percent, it might be plausible to charge "dumping." They've lost their EU customers and need to cut prices to penetrate the US market. Maybe. Possibly.

If the reverse were true - 99 percent US, 1 percent EU - then the ban from the EU market would be totally insignificant and have no bearing on price whatsoever.

If global export capacity due to shrimp farming goes up, then obviously price goes down ... globally.

Based sheerly on anecdote and conversation, I stand by my assertion that the US has been Vietnam's primary shirmp export market for many years, and that "dumping" is absolutely not viable in the context of Vietnam's economy, e.g., they simply cannot afford to do it. It is not plausible, in fact it's a ridiculous, laughable charge.

The EU's claim that "someone" (maybe including the Vietnamese) was using antibiotics in shrimp production is the red herring here. If you'd ever seen a Vietnamese shrimp farm you might be chuckling as much as I am about the economics of that one.

[blanknoone]

I think both of you are partially right and partially wrong. Angkor, they are using antibiotics not qualified for use on humans or foodstuffs in Vietnamese, as well as other south east asian shrimp countries. While the farms are indeed often primitive, and don't use antibiotics, the hatcheries do. Untreated hatcheries often have survival of 5-10%, where as treating with antibiotics can keep survival through the larval period above 90%. So while the poor peasant farmers aren't using antibiotics, the people they are buying their PL (post larval) shrimp from are...and it is in residual quantities from hatcheries that it is being detected.

The problem is that they are using antibiotics that have not been rated for human consumption. Even though not all hatcheries or farms have shrimp with antibiotic traces, the regulatory and/or control structures are not there. Absent testing every shipment (cost and time prohibitive), all the EU can do is ban imports from whole countries with histories of frequent unacceptable quantities...and that is exactly what they did. The problem is that the acceptable amounts of trace is different...what is unacceptable to the EU, is acceptable here. (The threshold in the US is about 3X what it is in EU) So a whole bunch of shrimp that always went to Europe, is now coming here. In your inquiries about size, the US and European markets for shrimp are comparable in size, with both about 80% imported. Latin American imports historically dominated in America while Asian imports historically dominated Europe and Asia.

That being said, it is not technically dumping, and I do not support this suit. They have a product that they have to sell, their normal market won't accept it, so they sell it to another market that will.

They missed the biggest part of the story...China and the US. The US has been doing work on domesticating and improving Litopanaues Vannamei, the pacific white shrimp, which is the farmed shrimp that dominates in the Americas. Asia's dominant farmed shrimp is the Black Tiger (you can see the stripes on it when uncooked). The Chicoms just started using the US genetic stock of Vannamei with great results....and sent a huge amount of shrimp to the US market. US taxpayer funded research benefitting the Chicoms... That is quite possibly dumping, but it is restricted to China itself...not the rest of SE Asia.

[DeepDish]

Thanks for the clarification.

[dennisw]

I have eaten Vietnamese Basa (catfish), was much better than American catfish. Probably due to being fed better by the small farmers. Shrimp rotates with rice.

[dennisw]

I'm so glad we can get pink shrimp caught in Key West. I refuse to eat "tiger shrimp" most are grown in Panama /Ecuador fish farms owened by Asians. BFD. I'll stick with local.

[blanknoone]

I would be very surprised if your black tigers were coming out of Panama or Ecuador...both are almost totally dominated by L. Vannamei (Pacific whites). Your Tigers are probably coming out of Asia...Thailand is the biggest shrimp producing country, and it is almost exclusively Tigers. The shrimp native to Florida are Pinks, Whites (not pacific) and browns. If you eat pinks and browns, you can almost be certain that they are caught, not farmed, but you can't be certain of where...the same three species dominate the whole of the Carribean, Mexican and North coast of South America.

[Quick Shot]

Interesting there is another suit in Alabama by the Shrimp Association for proper labeling of foreign shrimp. In the US 80% of the shrimp sold is foreign (undocumented this is their claim) which hurts the US shrimper.

By state law in Alabama all products of foreign origin must be labeled as such and where. The seafood markets are not labeling or are the resteraunts. They claim that many of the 'gulf' seafood resteraunts are using foreign shrimp, while implying that they are local.

Right now the US shimper is having very difficult financial times. Interesting and somewhat ironic the US shrimp fleet is dominated by US immigrant Vietnamese operating the vessels.

[DugwayDuke]

"Imports of shrimp from the six countries jumped 28 percent since 2000 to 650 million pounds in 2002, the U.S. industry says. Tariffs sought under the complaint would range from 57 percent for Thailand to 267 percent for China."

So, in order to save some jobs in the shrimping fleets we should increase the price of shrimp by 57 to 267 percent? Cool, but won't that cause other job losses when the demand for shrimp falls due to the increased costs?

[Bluntpoint]

I get so tired of the "shrimp" farmers getting preferential treatment and subsidies!

What about the "shrimp" motorcycle dealers? Are they not worthy of protection?

[dennisw]

Thanks for the info. We eat the Key West pink shrimp a lot. Native to Florida as are Cape Canaveral bay scallops. I'm always intrigued by fish farming. I had some Basa fish from Vietnam last year which was very flavorful and better than US raised catfish. My guess is better more natural feed over there since Vietnam is poor. Only fish farmed stuff I like are mussels and oysters. They feed naturally via water filtration, are fed nothing. I've gathered mussels, clams, sea urchins off the Maine Coast. Oysters in Florida

I don't like fish farmed fish, they are low quality and flavorless. I much rather eat canned salmon