Washington: The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has given preliminary approval to imposition of anti-dumping duties on shrimp imports from India and five other countries.

The unanimous ruling by the quasi-judicial commission will be sent to the Department of Commerce, which will determine if imports have been sold at unfairly low prices in domestic markets as US shrimpers allege.

American shrimpers on December 31 filed the anti-dumping petition against imports of frozen and canned shrimp from six Asian and South American countries - India, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Brazil and Ecuador.

They argued that cheap imports have put thousands of US workers out of work and forced hundreds of businesses to close.

The Southern Shrimp Alliance, an eight-state industry coalition, which paid for the anti-dumping petition, was delighted over the ruling. "It is not surprising that the ITC found compelling evidence that shrimp fishermen and processors are injured by dumped shrimp," the alliance said.

The 6-0 ruling yesterday (Feb 17, 2004) meant the Commission found imports have indeed caused or are likely to cause injury to the domestic industry, said Debbie Regan, a spokeswoman for the shrimp alliance.

Asian shrimp exporters described the petition as blatant protectionism and said they will fight to keep overseas shrimp in the American market.

The next ruling is scheduled to come on June 8, when the Commerce Department will decide whether shrimp have been unfairly dumped at below market prices.

The shrimpers need to win two rulings from the Commerce Department and a final approval from the US International Trade Commission before anti-dumping duties can be imposed.

The Southern Shrimp Alliance claims that the value of the US harvest dropped by more than half between 2000 and 2002 from $ 1.25 billion to $ 560 million because of dumping.

The petition by the shrimpers was strongly opposed by the American Seafood Distributors Association, one of the largest seafood industry groups. Distributors, suppliers and some processors stand to lose business if anti-dumping duties are imposed.