The International Trade Administration initiated countervailing duty investigations of certain frozen warmwater shrimp from China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, it said in a Jan. 18 fact sheet. Imports of the merchandise totaled $4,149,341,000 in value in 2012, with Thai imports accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total value. The seven countries covered by these investigations collectively account for 85 percent of U.S. shrimp imports and more than three-quarters of the U.S. market, the Coalition of Frozen Shrimp Industries said in its request for the investigations.
The International Trade Administration is set to issue antidumping duty orders on utility scale wind towers from China and Vietnam, and a countervailing duty order on utility scale wind towers from China, following a Jan. 18 vote by the International Trade Commission that imports of the merchandise are injuring U.S. industry. Chairman Irving Williamson was joined by two commissioners in finding injury or threat of injury. Three commissioners opposed the final affirmative injury determination.
On Jan. 18-21 the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
During the week of Jan. 14-20, the Food and Drug Administration modified the following existing Import Alerts (not otherwise listed on the FDA's new and revised import alerts page) on the detention without physical examination and/or surveillance of:
The Food and Drug Administration issued its weekly Enforcement Report for Jan. 16 that lists the status of recalls and field corrections for food, drugs, biologics, and devices. The report covers both domestic and foreign firms.
On Jan. 18 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Jan. 18 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reminded importers and exporters that effective Jan. 18 imports of sand pears from China are authorized, as are exports of U.S. pears to China from California, Oregon, and Washington. Authorization was granted by a December final rule, following agreement between APHIS and regulatory counterparts from China. Import permits will not be issued for sand pears from China until program phytosanitary requirements are finalized, APHIS said.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notices for Jan. 22:
The Foreign Trade Zones Board scheduled a free webinar Feb. 26 at 1 p.m. ET on its revised regulations for a grantee’s “zone schedule” (which lists the zone’s fees and policies), including how the zone schedule relates to public utility requirements. The webinar is focused on grantee functions, but is open to anyone interested in participating. To attend, RSVP to ftz@trade.gov by Feb. 22. Each RSVP should include the attendee’s name and email address.