Bangkok--7 Mar--TSA
Somsak Paneetatyasia, President of Thai Shrimp Association, said the suicide of Mr. Samrerng Tianyoi, who was a member of the Association, had shocked the whole shrimp industry, particularly the export side. This is a tragedy that should not have happened. Mr. Samrerng was a legend in the shrimp industry who had had extensive experience in shrimp export and was the pioneer in Thai shrimp industry, starting from buying and selling fresh shrimp, setting up peeling operation and eventually became one of the leading shrimp processors. He was a fine example of a true fighter. It was so unfortunate that he had to end his life due to pressure from his trading business. It was believed that the pressure was from the impact of the antidumping (AD) which required advance cash deposit and continuous bond, which was an unfair trade barrier of the US.
“On behalf of the Thai Shrimp Association, I am conveying my sincere condolences to the family of Mr. Samrerng Tianyoi, president of Thai Shrimp Buying Club of Talay Thai market in Samut Sakorn. Mr. Samrerng was well regarded in the shrimp industry. It was said in the news that his business had been greatly impact by the strengthening of the baht. However, as his company was among the top exporters and with large proportion of export to the US, the impact from US antidumping and the continuous bond must have a major part in his demise. It was so cruel that a life of an honest operator had to succumb to the unfair treatment of the US. I don’t know how much longer the exporters have to suffer from this pressure and hope there won’t be more people hurt from this continuous bond.”
The US is a country which imports high volume of shrimp products annually. In 2006, the US imported 590,299 metric tons of shrimp products and Thailand accounted for 33% of total US shrimp imports or 193,764 metric tons. On December 31, 2004, Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) filed antidumping suit on Thailand and five other countries claiming shrimp imports had caused damage to the US shrimp industry. This suit results in Thai shrimp having to pay AD duty and exporters must post long-term continuous bond of very high sum. This is very unfair as it is double taxation. More importantly, AD increases cost of production by 20% and exporters have to bear all these additional costs — what with the legal expenses on both sides for hiring American lawyers and the payment to SSA plus other high expenses. This is all in addition to the large sum of continuous bond which the exporters have to post. They could not get the money from the previous bond and yet they have to put up another new bond. This is a very cruel trade barrier. I don’t know how much longer the exporters can bear. Hope AD will claim no more lives, Mr. Somsak said.
Somsak Paneetatyasai
President of Thai Shrimp Association (TSA)
Mobile: 081-8302448