Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Co has hired a legal team to respond to the countervailing investigation launched by the US into frozen warmwater shrimp imported from China, the company said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Tuesday.

The Guangdong-based company said that it has been listed as a mandatory respondent in the case, meaning that it may be given a special countervailing duty by the US.

Zhanjiang Guolian is one of only two companies in the world that enjoy zero duty on exports of shrimps to the US, Beijing-based newspaper Securities Daily reported Tuesday.

Zhanjiang Guolian was targeted by an earlier anti-dumping investigation by the US in 2003, but the company eventually won the case.

This is the first time that the US has launched a countervailing investigation into Chinese agricultural products.

The Chinese shrimp industry is not the only one that is under investigation by the US.

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) on February 7 announced that the US shrimp industry has been materially injured by imports from China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The investigation into the imports was initiated at the request of the Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries, which claims that shrimp exporters in these countries have been unfairly subsidized.

The USITC is scheduled to give a final ruling on whether imported shrimp from these countries have caused injuries to the US shrimp industry on October 22.

In 2011, China exported frozen warmwater shrimp worth $153.7 million to the US.

China's Ministry of Commerce was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

Agencies - Global Times