BILOXI, Miss., Dec. 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) applauds the introduction of the Leveling the Playing Field Act in the U.S. Senate. This bill, introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and supported by the Committee to Support U.S. Trade Laws, will make important reforms to strengthen the trade remedy on which the U.S. shrimp industry and many other American industries depend for survival.
The American shrimp industry has battled waves of unfairly traded shrimp from overseas for many years. Its valuation is priced far below normal value, often below cost of production, which creates a devastating marketplace for the U.S. shrimp industry's small family-owned processors, boats and docks.
"The Leveling the Playing Field Act will ensure that American companies have the resources necessary to combat unfair foreign trade practices," said Dr. David Veal, director for the association. "Dumped and subsidized shrimp imports have seized market share, driven down prices and repeatedly thrown our industry into crisis."
According to a release by Senator Brown's office, the bill will "restore strength to antidumping and countervailing duty laws – cracking down on unfair foreign competition."
"We are committed to fighting for fair conditions in the U.S. shrimp industry, and this is an important step forward in that fight," said Veal. "It is our hope that local and national representatives will rally around this bill to support its passing."
Directly, the bill addresses the following:
- Maintains Commerce's discretion to use adverse facts available when a mandatory respondent does not cooperate with an investigation and clarifies that the agency is not obligated to determine what a margin would be if the respondent had participated;
- Increases the number of factors and the length of time the ITC should use to evaluate injury or the threat of injury to U.S. producers to ensure a determination is based on a comprehensive assessment of a sector's situation;
- Closes the "new shipper" loophole used by companies to circumvent AD/CVD duties;
- Increases penalties for failure to provide a country of origin certificate for merchandise covered under AD/CVD orders or for falsifying the information on the certificate;
- Clarifies that Commerce has the authority to determine whether to include voluntary respondents in an investigation;
- Clarifies that Commerce does not have to conduct an additional investigation to prove that disregarded product values used in non-market economy investigations are subsidized or dumped if the record already shows the product values to be distorted; and
- Clarifies existing statutory provisions used to assess whether a country's non-market economy status should be maintained.
More information on the efforts of ASPA and its members can be accessed via www.americanshrimp.com.
About the American Shrimp Processors Association: The American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA), based in Biloxi, Mississippi, was formed in 1964 to represent and promote the interests of the domestic, U.S. wild-caught, warm water shrimp processing industry along the Gulf and South Atlantic with members from Texas to North Carolina. We are the collective voice of the industry, and our focus is to promote the interests of shrimp processors, other segments of the U.S. domestic wild-caught warm water shrimp industry and the general public. More information is available at http://www.americanshrimp.com