Bangkok, March 13:

Thai shrimpers today urged the government to press ahead with plans to file a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over US tariffs, warning exports could fall by one-third in the first half of 2006.

The commerce ministry had already prepared a complaint against the United States over its barriers to Thai shrimp, but put the filing on hold after Washington said it would revise its tariffs by mid-March, the Thai Shrimp Association said. “The US had asked the ministry to delay the filing to WTO, saying they would remove the bond by mid-March. But it seems they are likly to miss the deadline,” the head of the association, Somsak Paneethatyasai said, “So we expect the government to move ahead with the WTO filing after March 15.”

The United States imposes an average 5.95 per cent duty on Thai shrimp. To guarantee payment, Washington also requires shrimpers to pay for a ‘continuous bond’ equal to the total export value of the shrimp.

Thai shrimpers complain that the bond payment is too steep, and Somsak said exports to the United States would likely fall by 30 per cent in the first half of the year. In 2005, about 150,000 tonnes of Thai shrimp were shipped to the United States, Thailand’s largest shrimp export market, up from 130,000 tonnes in 2004.

Thailand is the world’s biggest shrimp exporter with a total of 280,000 tonnes worth $1.79 billion shipped overseas in 2005. The United States imports nearly 90 per cent of its shrimp, the number one seafood consumed by Americans.