WASHINGTON, July 2 -- The CITAC/ASDA Shrimp Task Force announced todaythat the American Soybean Association (ASA) has joined the Shrimp TaskForce to safeguard U.S. soy exports threatened by the shrimp trade case.The ASA is a membership-driven policy organization representing 25,000soybean farmers across the United States.

U.S. soybean and soybean meal exports are an important source of feed forshrimp produced using modern farming, or aquaculture, techniques. Themajority of shrimp producing countries purchase large quantities of U.S.soybeans and soybean meal to feed their farm-raised shrimp, helping tomake soy products America's #1 agriculture export.

"About half of all our U.S. soy exports are purchased by shrimp producingcountries," said ASA President Ron Heck, a soybean producer from Perry,Iowa. "ASA is primarily concerned about the potential of retaliatory traderestrictions being placed on U.S. soybean and soybean meal exports. ASA isjoining the Shrimp Task Force to make sure the U.S. government fullyunderstands the ripple effect that would result from the imposition ofduties on shrimp imports."

Due to the availability of reasonably priced imports, which account fornearly 90% of all shrimp consumed in the U.S., shrimp has risen to becomeAmerica's #1 seafood. The domestic shrimpers' trade case was filed againstimported shrimp from Thailand, China, Vietnam, India, Ecuador, and Brazil,which account for about 75% percent of shrimp imports in the U.S. market,with a 2002 value of $2.4 billion.

"The decision by the American Soybean Association to join our coalitionreveals just how far reaching the impact of dumping duties would be," saidWally Stevens, Chairman of the Shrimp Task Force. "American exports andAmerican jobs are at stake here. We estimate that for every one shrimpproducing job in the U.S., there are an additional 20 jobs on theconsuming side of the industry that depend upon affordable importedshrimp. Placing a food tax on America's most popular seafood would benefita small group of U.S. shrimpers at the expense of jobs in shrimp consumingindustries, and in U.S. export industries as well."

Soybeans are not the only U.S. exports directly threatened by the shrimptrade case. Tens of millions of dollars in brine shrimp exports from theU.S., primarily from western states such as Utah, are used as feed forshrimp farming. The brine shrimp exports could also be lost.

Due to the threat that duties pose to both consumers and to the consumingindustries that serve them, the Consuming Industries Trade ActionCoalition (CITAC) has formed an alliance with the American SeafoodDistributors Association (ASDA), bringing together concerned grocers,restaurants, processors, distributors, business councils and U.S.exporters to form the CITAC/ASDA Shrimp Task Force. The goal of the ShrimpTask Force is to assure that the U.S. government considers all the factsin the case fairly and objectively, with a full understanding of theramifications of any decision.

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