Thirty-two Chinese shrimp enterprises have appealed to the US Court of International Trade against an anti-dumping ruling imposed on them by US Department of Commerce.

In their appeal, lodged on March 4, the Chinese companies claimed that the final determination on them was unfair, after the department declared it would levy punitive duties ranging from 27.89 per cent to 82.27 per cent on their exports to the United States.

Cao Xumin, president of the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-Products, noted that the group of 32 firms was the largest so far to appeal against such a ruling.

"The enterprises include three mandatory respondents who get separate rates and 29 other respondents," Cao added.

The United States launched an anti-dumping investigation against warm-water shrimps from China in January last year, and the prices of shrimps from India were taken as a surrogate price in this case.

"The shrimps taken as the surrogate raw materials are of a different species from the Chinese shrimps," Cao said.

The Chinese shrimps are not the same size as those from India, he added.

Cao added that "using this surrogate value, the US Department of Commerce violated the principle of accuracy and representativeness stipulated by World Trade Organization rules and US anti-dumping laws," Cao said.

Chinese shrimp exporters argued that Department of Commerce ignored the objection of Chinese respondents and the inappropriate choice of the surrogate value for raw materials resulted in the unjust dumping margins that the United States claimed.

The Chinese enterprises have hired US lawyers to deal with this case, Cao said.

According to the surrogate value data provided by the lawyers, Chinese shrimp exporters conducted no dumping in the United States.

"We take the successful experiences in a similar anti-dumping case against Chinese apple juice concentrate manufacturers," he added.

In April 2000, the United States imposed anti-dumping margins ranging from 9.85 to 51.74 per cent in its final determination of the anti-dumping investigation against Chinese apple juice concentrate producers.

The companies, organized by Cao's chamber, sued the US Department of Commerce at the US Court of International Trade.

They claimed that the US Government made mistakes in choosing the surrogate value data.

With abundant and detailed information, they won the case and made the US Government slash its determination.

Meanwhile, the shrimp enterprises are also preparing for an unfavourable final determination.

Although China's exports of shrimps to the United States were blocked by the anti-dumping order, these enterprises have not stopped their trade of other aquaculture products in the global market.

Domestic enterprises are also diversifying their business into some new markets.

Source: China Daily