|
Frozen shrimp. (Photo: Stock File/FIS)
WTO rules against US in shrimp zeroing case
CHINA
Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 03:50 (GMT + 9)
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has ruled in China's favour over a zeroing measure imposed by the US against Chinese frozen shrimp. According to the WTO, the US had violated WTO trade rules in using its contentious "zeroing" method to impose anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese warm-water shrimp.
China has welcomed the decision, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said. Spokesperson Shen Danyang said the US should honour the WTO ruling and make things right post haste, to ensure the fair treatment of China's exporters and preserve both parties' normal trade activities.
WTO rules say that anti-dumping margins should be calculated upon differences between export prices and normal domestic prices. However, the US took on the zeroing practice to eliminate the difference whenever export prices were higher than domestic prices -- which artificially pushed the dumping margins up, Xinhua reports.
The US thus used the zeroing method to impose anti-dumping duties of up to 112.81 per cent on shrimp imported from China.
China requested consultations with the organisation under the dispute settlement system in February 2011.
The US which has already agreed to recalculate the dumping margins on the Chinese imports and back in February that it would stop using these zeroing methods, Bloomberg reports.
This case represented the biggest anti-dumping quarrel regarding China's farm produce sector, as China's frozen shrimp exports to the US reached USD 380 million in 2003.
As a result of the WTO’s ruling, the US must now correct its practices to conform with WTO rules within eight months after the release of the panel report, an MOC official added.
Last week’s ruling by the WTO echoes findings in past complaints lodged by Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, the European Union (EU), Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
Related article:
- WTO panel requested in US shrimp case
By Natalia Real
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
|
|
Print
