Organic soybean meal from India faces anti-dumping claims in US

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The Organic Soybean Processors of America has filed a petition with the US Department of Commerce (DOC) and the US International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that organic soybean meal (OSM) from India is being sold in the US at less than fair value.

The Organic Soybean Processors of America are a US industry trade group comprised of American Natural Processors, LLC, Lester Feed & Grain Co., Organic Production Services, LLC, Professional Proteins, Ltd., Sheppard Grain Enterprises LLC, Simmons Grain Company, Super Soy, LLC and Tr-State Crush, LLC.

The US processors, in the petition filed on March 31, also allege that the government of India is providing unfair subsidies to Indian producers and exporters of OSM to the US.

The US processors are calling for antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) on imports of OSM from India.

The ITC must determine by May 17, 2021 whether there is a reasonable indication that the imports are injuring the US industry. If the ITC finds that there is just cause, then the case moves to the DOC; that body will calculate the preliminary antidumping duty margins.

The US Department of Commerce’s preliminary determinations are currently scheduled for June 24 for unfair subsidies and September 7 for antidumping, which are the dates when importers will be required to deposit the calculated duties upon the products’ entry into the US market.

Organic soybean meal (OSM) is primarily used as an animal feed ingredient for organic poultry and dairy in the US with a nominal amount used for other organic US livestock farming operations such as pork. OSM attracts a premium compared to conventional soybean meal.

India is by far the largest supplier of organic soy products to US markets, according to Ryan Koory, director of economics for Mercaris. “We estimate that they provided 42% of total US organic soybean and meal supplies over the 2019-20 marketing year. To put this bluntly, organic soy imports from India over 2019-20 were nearly double US production during that same period,” reported World Grain in February this year.