(The Insider Stories) – Indonesia is eyeing to dominate US shrimp market by the end of this yeat after a preliminary finding by US investigators cleared exporters of subsidy allegations and freed the country from paying countervailing duties. The Aquaculture at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministryand expect 60 percent of shrimp export will comes from Indonesia.

Shrimp shipments totaled US$484 million between January and October last year, up 4.8 percent from the same period in 2011. Indonesia is the second-largest shrimp supplier to the US after Thailand, accounting for 16 percent of the US’ total frozen shrimp imports, according to US trade data.

The US Department of Commerce announced its preliminary finding late last month, saying that Indonesia, along with Ecuador, was not proven to have given considerable subsidies to its shrimp farmers, while imposing such duties on China, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam after finding that the five major shrimp-supplying countries did in fact provide subsidies.

The investigation into the case began late last year after the Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries — on behalf of US producers — which accounts for 90 percent of the country’s production, lodged a petition accusing overseas producers of enjoying unfair government subsidies that allowed them to sell their produce at lower prices, inflicting losses on local producers.

The final ruling from the investigation will be released on Aug. 12, while the US Trade Commission will announce the final results on Sept. 26. If the commission finds that imports from the five countries are materially injuring, or threatening material injury, the commission will issue countervailing orders on Oct. 3.