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U.S. shrimp importers seek to settle dumping case and help fishermen
Money Sense ^ | December 22, 2004

Posted on 12/22/2004 10:46:50 PM PST by hedgetrimmer

Seafood importers are proposing to pay up to $100 million US to struggling southern U.S. shrimpers if they drop their drive to get tariffs slapped on imports of farmed shrimp from six Asian and South American countries.

Thirty-one of the biggest shrimp importers recently circulated a proposal to consider levying a fee of a few cents on each pound of imports and distributing the money to shrimpers.

"We propose to join in open dialogue with 'like minded' representatives of the domestic harvesting industry to explore methods and structures for helping domestic harvesters," the proposal said. "There remains both a need for and a place for 'wild' harvest product in the market."

Any proposal would need to be agreed upon by all parties - the shrimpers, the exporters and the importers - and be approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It looks unlikely that competing interests would line up for that to happen.

The importers propose levying the fee for between three and five years. They believe it could generate between $60 million and $100 million for shrimpers.

Nearly a year ago, a petition was filed to get the U.S. government to impose tariffs on shrimp imports from Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand and Vietnam.

The trade action came after two years of a rapid price slide for U.S. shrimp, which is mostly caught in the wild as opposed to farm-raised imports. Shrimpers blamed the price drop on the unfair trade practice of selling shrimp below market price, also known as dumping.

The U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission have both ruled in favour of tariffs, which are moving toward a final approval early next year.

"We're not offering to buy these guys out of harm's way; what we're doing is offering these guys a hand during hard times," said Rick Martin, executive director of California-based Red Chamber Co., a large shrimp importer and shrimp breeder. He has backed the proposal.

The importers say their proposal would put money in fishermen's pockets soon, whereas now they will have to wait for the uncertain effects of tariffs and possible payments under U.S. dumping laws.

The Southern Shrimp Alliance, an eight-state group that organized the antidumping petition, remains "open to any reasonable proposal," said Deborah Long, the group's spokeswoman.

But the group maintains that the duties will drive up prices for fishermen.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: shrimp; tariffs; trade
"There remains both a need for and a place for 'wild' harvest product in the market."

And yet they're doing everything we can to take these guys off the water and keep them from fishing. I've never heard of a company taking its product off the market for a few years, then comimg back and getting the marketshare it once had. Once you lose market share, you very likely will go broke trying to get it back and never succeed.
1 posted on 12/22/2004 10:46:50 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: farmfriend

Do you think its interesting that the shrimp importers are offering to pay the US shrimpers off? Have you heard of it being done this way for any other products?


2 posted on 12/22/2004 10:48:00 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: nypokerface

FYI


3 posted on 12/22/2004 10:49:09 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: ninenot; Willie Green

Is this an example of "free trade"?


4 posted on 12/22/2004 10:54:04 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: hedgetrimmer; abbi_normal_2; Ace2U; adam_az; Alamo-Girl; Alas; alfons; alphadog; amom; ...
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.
5 posted on 12/22/2004 10:59:07 PM PST by farmfriend ( Congratulation. You are everything we've come to expect from years of government training.)
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To: hedgetrimmer
Sounds like "shut up and will give you a cut." Ironic that I'm watching The Godfather right now.
6 posted on 12/22/2004 11:00:49 PM PST by farmfriend ( Congratulation. You are everything we've come to expect from years of government training.)
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To: hedgetrimmer

Sounds like a bidding war between two groups of "Honey Dippers."


7 posted on 12/22/2004 11:02:45 PM PST by Old Professer (The accidental trumps the purposeful in every endeavor attended by the incompetent.)
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To: hedgetrimmer

It's a private subsidy, that may be quite an attractive package for fisherman. I wonder if tobacco manufacturers subsidized farmers awhile back...I know Canada has done that.


8 posted on 12/22/2004 11:05:35 PM PST by endthematrix ("Hey, it didn't hit a bone, Colonel. Do you think I can go back?" - U.S. Marine)
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To: endthematrix
It's a private subsidy, that may be quite an attractive package for fisherman

You can't take a product off the market and then bring it back and expect the same market share and name recognition.

So what if they get a "private" subsidy this year? What happens next year if they don't get one? When you look at it closely, you might think a "private" subsidy is a bribe, and it puts the shrimpers in a very tenuos position especially when the importers decide they don't want to pay it anymore.

Also, some of the importers have operations offshore, so this could be a really back handed way to put their competition out of business.
9 posted on 12/22/2004 11:11:28 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: hedgetrimmer
Yeah, this is kind of like the tobacco buyout. Money was squeezed from the "EVIL" cigarette makers to pay for the "HARD WORKING" tobacco farmers.

Maybe the shrimp conglomerates are seeing the writing on the wall not to screw with America's farmers. Pay them to get good PR from regulators to keep the money machine flowing. Once the environmentalists get wind that you can get emphysema from smoking shrimp, the deck of cards will fall!
10 posted on 12/22/2004 11:14:41 PM PST by endthematrix ("Hey, it didn't hit a bone, Colonel. Do you think I can go back?" - U.S. Marine)
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To: hedgetrimmer

I've been eating more shrimp lately, because of the lower cost...It was just recently however, that I started looking at where these shrimp(s) came from...

You can't find American harvested shrimp in the stores...

The farm raised shrimp have very little flavor...The best so far came from Saudi Arabia...How odd is that???

Industry is STILL leaving on a regular basis...Farmers are falling out...Fishermen are about to become extinct...

The insane asylum is being run by the inmates...


11 posted on 12/23/2004 2:21:36 AM PST by Iscool (Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of those who threaten it !!!)
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To: farmfriend

BTTT!!!!!!!


12 posted on 12/23/2004 3:07:17 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: hedgetrimmer

When somebody makes a $100MM offer, there can only be two causes: guilt, or certainty that the alternative will be worse.

So the importers aren't white knights....

However, one is inclined to ask why the US shrimpers have not concurrently started "farms" of their own, allowing them to sell at the cheaper price, while also initiating a "value added" campaign to justify higher prices for the 'wild catch.'

Lotta details missing here.


13 posted on 12/23/2004 6:30:59 AM PST by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: ninenot

Environmental laws make it impossible to start shrimp farms here.

Many shrimpers have so much capital tied up in their boats, they have none to invest in developing shrimp ponds.

SE Asian shrimp is often contaminated with illegal antibotics and has been banned from certain producers and countries. Some effort by the WTO is underway so that the country of origin labels or cool, is banned so consumers won't know where the product they are consuming is from.

A lot of the equipment and feed for shrimp farms is produced by US companies, so the government on one hand is hearing from some companies to drop the tariffs, and on the other, from the shrimpers, to have tariffs. Our trading system is really broken because it pits Americans against Americans and gives the edge to the foreign producers.


14 posted on 12/23/2004 8:42:57 AM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: hedgetrimmer

Well, your post settled a lot of the "details" questions I had.

Somehow I should have guessed that EPA had a hand in this.


15 posted on 12/23/2004 9:21:10 AM PST by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: hedgetrimmer
All one has to do is perform a search on the web for farm raised shrimp to know what kind of an issue this is. From all sides it seems shrimp is bad. Trawling is bad because it "clear cuts" the sea floor. Farming is bad, well, for any reason one wishes to state. The price is too low, or, the price is just right. The taste is bad, or, the quality is good and uniform. The US doesn't do aquaculture to the extent it could because of any reason one wishes to write. Property too expensive, not enough water, too much regulation, no local market, short growing season, etc. ,etc.. To me, this is just so much bull. If we are to have a free market in this nation then it shall be open and free to investors and traders. If it isn't, then why do we have a $400 billion trade deficit?
16 posted on 12/23/2004 9:39:41 AM PST by Final Authority
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To: Final Authority

The deficit exists for one thing and thats although we have fairly free markets, the countries we are trading to do not.

The WTO talks gives lip service to free trade. When it comes down to it, they will give the competitive edge first to the EU, then to "least developed countries" before ever giving anything to the US.

The real problem lies in the fact that the US Congress has abdicated its constitutional duty pertaining to trade, and when they do make trade decisions, they do not represent citizen interests but the global socialist interests of the WTO. In the "mind" of the WTO you cannot treat nationals from other countries different than "your own nationals" (their words). Therefore for the US to comply to WTO rules, we cannot put the interests of our citizens first.


17 posted on 12/23/2004 9:45:58 AM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: hedgetrimmer
Precisely my point. Every time I write about my observations with respect to so-called free trade I get burned by the GWB sycophants and those with their heads up their...

The problem is, the cat is now out of the bag and how would you offer to put it back in?

Do we tell WalMart to remove 40% of their items off the shelves?

If the tariffs on shrimp promote domestic aquaculture as the tariffs on motorcycles promoted domestic manufacture did during the Reagan administration then I would be all for it. If the tariffs just serve to keep prices high, then it is a mistake and an economic disaster.
18 posted on 12/23/2004 9:56:58 AM PST by Final Authority
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