The us Department of Commerce has postponed the date for announcing the dumping margin on Indian shrimp imports from June 8 to July 28. The 50-day deferment is likely to hit the Indian shrimp industry hard.

Earlier, three of the biggest Indian shrimp exporters to the us had been identified and details of their sourcing, pricing, processing and export statistics supplied to the importing country. The companies included the Bangalore unit of Hindustan Lever Limited (hll), and Nekkandanthi Seafood and Devi Fisheries of Andhra Pradesh.

The us was supposed to send a team to these firms and ascertain the authenticity of the data supplied by them. Based on these findings, it will determine whether the Indian companies have been dumping shrimp in the us markets. If so, anti-dumping duties will be levied on Indian shrimp exports to the us. Since the date for fixing the extent of dumping margins has been extended by 50 days, the visit of the us team will also be put off.