SHRIMP TRADE CASE THREATENS U.S. EXPORTS

Washington, DC — The CITAC/ASDA Shrimp Task Force announced today that the American Soybean Association (ASA) has joined the Shrimp Task Force to safeguard U.S. soy exports threatened by the shrimp trade case. The ASA is a membership-driven policy organization representing 25,000 soybean farmers across the United States.

U.S. soybean and soybean meal exports are an important source of feed for shrimp produced using modern farming, or aquaculture, techniques. The majority of shrimp producing countries purchase large quantities of U.S. soybeans and soybean meal to feed their farm-raised shrimp, helping to make soy products America's #1 agriculture export.

"About half of all our U.S. soy exports are purchased by shrimp producing countries," said ASA President Ron Heck, a soybean producer from Perry, Iowa. "ASA is primarily concerned about the potential of retaliatory trade restrictions being placed on U.S. soybean and soybean meal exports. ASA is joining the Shrimp Task Force to make sure the U.S. government fully understands the ripple effect that would result from the imposition of duties on shrimp imports."

Due to the availability of reasonably priced imports, which account for nearly 90% of all shrimp consumed in the U.S., shrimp has risen to become America's #1 seafood. The domestic shrimpers' trade case was filed against imported shrimp from Thailand, China, Vietnam, India, Ecuador, and Brazil, which account for about 75% percent of shrimp imports in the U.S. market, with a 2002 value of $2.4 billion.

"The decision by the American Soybean Association to join our coalition reveals just how far reaching the impact of dumping duties would be," said Wally Stevens, Chairman of the Shrimp Task Force. "American exports and American jobs are at stake here. We estimate that for every one shrimp producing job in the U.S., there are an additional 20 jobs on the consuming side of the industry that depend upon affordable imported shrimp. Placing a food tax on America's most popular seafood would benefit a small group of U.S. shrimpers at the expense of jobs in shrimp consuming industries, and in U.S. export industries as well."

Soybeans are not the only U.S. exports directly threatened by the shrimp trade case. Tens of millions of dollars in brine shrimp exports from the U.S., primarily from western states such as Utah, are used as feed for shrimp farming. The brine shrimp exports could also be lost.

Due to the threat that duties pose to both consumers and to the consuming industries that serve them, the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition (CITAC) has formed an alliance with the American Seafood Distributors Association (ASDA), bringing together concerned grocers, restaurants, processors, distributors, business councils and U.S. exporters to form the CITAC/ASDA Shrimp Task Force. The goal of the Shrimp Task Force is to assure that the U.S. government considers all the facts in the case fairly and objectively, with a full understanding of the ramifications of any decision.

For more information on the Shrimp Task Force visit citac.info/shrimp or contact George Felcyn at or .