| by Anthony C. Ostrowski, USMSFP Director
The July
6, 2004 decision by the Department of Commerce
to prescribe preliminary duties on shrimp imports
from China and Vietnam have heightened expectations
that similar decisions will be made on other
countries named in the antidumping suit, and
that the final determinations and recommendations
back to the international Trade Commission targeted
for November 24 may become a reality. As this
issue of Industry Briefs goes to press, the (July
28) decision on whether to impose tariffs on
shrimp from Thailand, Ecuador, Brazil, and India
will have been made. The duties, if finally imposed,
promise to make domestically produced shrimp
more price competitive, although the decision
will likely have little effect on the total volume
of shrimp imported into the U.S., the largest
shrimp market in the world. While duties could
have a positive influence on the state of our
industry now, farmers must not lose sight that
efforts to differentiate the quality of domestically
produced shrimp need to be pursued to remain
competititve in the future.
Already, countries
such as Vietnam are pursuing organic farming
cooperatives that are realizing a farm-gate price
20% above that received for non-organic shrimp.
Ocean Garden Products, Inc., has, for several
years, been marketing the quality of Mexico’s
farmed shrimp and is obtaining slightly better
than average price for a similar product. This,
together with the possibility that prices may
not be affected at all, puts our farming industry
on notice that duties are only part of the answer.
The onus is still on the industry to compete
on quality. Recent identifications of TSV in
Texas and WSSV in Hawaii not withstanding, the
US shrimp farming industry is the world leader
in environmentally sustainable and biosecure
farming. We produce the freshest farmed product
available to the U.S. shrimp market, under the
strictest environmental regulations in the world.
The farming community must promote their product
and leverage all the advantages and tools that
exist to convey the message.
The virtues of being produced in the USA are
clear whether shrimp are farmed or harvested.
It may
appear a very dark period for US shrimp farmers
now, but it is usually darkest before the dawn.
Impending duties, nationwide marketing campaigns,
and continued commitment from the USMSFP will
allow a bright, new
future for the US shrimp farming industry.
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