PORT
ARTHUR, Texas, April 16,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Shrimp Processors
Association (ASPA) is taking aggressive action to combat imports of
shrimp from India that were made
with forced labor and tainted by other labor abuses. On
March 20, 2024, reports emerged
regarding horrific labor conditions in India's shrimp industry, including forced and
bonded labor, child labor, hazardous and sickening working
conditions, excessive hours, pay below the minimum wage, withheld
pay, forced overtime and unpaid overtime, and harassment and verbal
abuse.
On Friday, April 12, 2024, ASPA
filed an allegation with the U.S. government arguing that the
government of India's failure to
enforce its most basic labor laws provides a subsidy to Indian
shrimp producers. ASPA asked the Department of Commerce to include
the subsidy in the ongoing countervailing duty investigation that
was launched in response to ASPA's petitions on unfairly traded
shrimp imports filed in October of last year. On Monday, April 15, 2024, ASPA also filed a request
with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to ban imports of shrimp
from India made with forced labor,
as required under section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930.
"The brutal working conditions documented in India's shrimp industry are appalling," said
Trey Pearson, President of ASPA.
"These producers exploit the most vulnerable workers imaginable,
and then export their artificially low-priced product to
the United States, harming our own
domestic shrimp harvesters and processors. ASPA will do everything
we can to fight back against these abhorrent practices and defend
American shrimp producers."
India accounts for 40 percent
of U.S. shrimp imports, and shrimp imports from India reached 650 million pounds valued at
$2.3 billion in 2023. Reports of
widespread and severe violations of workers' rights in the Indian
shrimp industry were released in March by the Corporate
Accountability Lab, the Associated Press, and the Outlaw Ocean
Project. Copies of the allegations ASPA filed with the U.S.
Department of Commerce and U.S. Customs and Border Protection
seeking action against these imports are available on ASPA's
website.
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SOURCE American Shrimp Processors Association