Marine exporters lobby hard against US anti-dumping

BS reports

The country’s exporters to the US have decided to strongly put up their case before the US Commerce Department in its second anti-dumping review of shrimp exports for the February 2006-January 2007 period.

In a meeting in Vizag recently, 75 exporters have resolved to apply for the review and engage New Delhi-based law firm Lakshmi Kumaran & Sreedharan for presenting their case before the US authority.

The US department on February 1 initiated the process of the second administrative review of shrimp exporters to the US and the last date for filing application for the voluntary review is February 28. The department will shortlist only a few of the 75 exporters for the review. The US Federal Register has also already published the schedule of the review.

Some actually believe that criticizing US is same as making a case against globalisation / free markets. But politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen are same everywhere - and are driven by same motivation to make markets less free. The one above is just one of the many examples. At the same time, we shouldn't forget that India lags behind US. India is ranked 104 (among 157 countries) in WSJ/Heritage Foundation's latest economic freedom index, scoring 55.6 points indicating that the country is mostly unfree (against the topper Hong Kong's 89.3). More. In ease of doing business, published earlier by World Bank, India is ranked 134 among 175 economies.

If US is one, 'dumping' is another. The word has a strong connotation. No one complains when a business offers something that we want at a lower price. In fact, we ask for it; rush to those who offer them at a discount. Yet, when a country does that, and when businessmen who can't compete complain about dumping, we are only to ready to buy their arguments - and deny ourselves the opportunity to buy something at a lower cost.