The US Department of Commerce (DoC) on August 13 announced it was introducing a 7.9 percent anti-subsidy duty on frozen shrimp imported from Vietnam.

The department also imposed duties on shrimp imports from Malaysia (54.5 percent), China (18.2 percent), India (11.1 percent) and Ecuador (13.5 percent).

According to statistics, these five nations exported 208,000 tonnes of frozen shrimp, worth 1.7 billion USD, to the US last year.

The decision to impose the new duties will only take effect when it gets approval from the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and ballots will be cast on September 19.

Following petitions from US shrimp producers and the Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries, the DoC investigated shrimp countervailing from the five countries, along with major suppliers Thailand and Indonesia. However, the latter two have not been hit by import duties.-VNA