ITC rejects countervailing duty call for shrimp imports

   The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday determined that the domestic shrimping industry is not harmed by imports of frozen warmwater shrimp from China, Ecuador, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam, which the Commerce Department had earlier determined are subsidized.
   Commissioners Daniel R. Pearson, Dean A. Pinkert, David S. Johanson, and Meredith M. Broadbent voted in the negative, while Chairman Irving A. Williamson and Commissioner Shara L. Aranoff voted in the affirmative.
   As a result of the ITC’s negative determinations, Commerce will not issue countervailing duty orders on imports of these products from the five countries.
   The Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries of Biloxi, Miss., petitioned the ITC on Dec. 28 for the countervailing duty investigation.
   The ITC estimated that 35.7 percent of the total value of the 1.3 billion pounds of shrimp consumed in the United States in 2012 was imported.