Florida's Seafood Exchange slams SSA's "pay more for shrimp"

American shrimpers oppose easing trade sanctions against India and Thailand, saying new tariffs they fought for will actually help drive up prices in those tsunami-ravaged countries.

The Southern Shrimp Alliance, an eight-state group of U.S. fishermen and processors, made its opposition pubic after the World Trade Organization called on its member countries last week to lift barriers on countries struck by the Dec. 26 disaster.

Just this month the alliance succeeded in its yearlong effort to have the Bush administration impose tariffs on frozen shrimp imports from India, Thailand, Brazil, China, Ecuador and Vietnam.

The Americans, who use boats to make their living, contended that hte nations were dumping farm-raised shrimp on the U.S. market and driving them out of business.

"Ironically, imposition of of antidumping orders could be the saving grace" for India and Thailand, said Eddie Gordon, the alliance's president.

Without duties, Gordon said, U.S. importers could continue to demand "low dumped prices from these countries, depriving foreign shrimp farmers of the full, fair value of their shrimp."

The alliance wants American importers to pay more to Indian and Thai shrimpers rather than the U.S. government lift the tariffs. Bush officials are assessing the damage to the tsunami-damaged shrimp industries and will decide if the tariffs should be lifted.

Importers as well as restaurants and supermarket chains oppose the tariffs, saying they would increase consumer prices and do little to make domestic shrimpers more competitive against the cheap and year-round farming operations overseas.

"I'd like to know who will be the first importer to raise his hand and pay more for product so he can be crushed by all his competitors the next day," said Travis Larkin, vic president of the Seafood Exchange of Florida, Inc., a Miami-based importer.

"The price everyone pays for product is based on the market and the market changes by the minute," Larkin said. "So how can you afford to pay more than everyone else?"

Associated Press