Sugar growers file antidumping, countervailing duty cases
March 28, 2014 | 03:00 PM
U.S. sugar growers today filed antidumping and countervailing duty petitions against Mexico’s sugar industry, contending it has dumped subsidized sugar onto the U.S. market and inflicted harm on U.S. growers and taxpayers.
The petitions filed with the International Trade Commission and the Commerce Department allege that the Mexican industry has shipped sugar to the United States at dumping margins of 45 percent or more and has received substantial subsidies from Mexican federal and state governments.
All told, these actions will cost U.S. sugar producers nearly $1 billion in net income for the 2013-14 crop year, according to the filings.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) “gives Mexico the right to export sugar to the United States on a tariff-free and quota-free basis — but that does not give the Mexican industry the right to export its surplus to the U.S. market at dumped prices, nor does it permit the [Mexican government] to subsidize its sugar industry without regard to the impact of those subsidies on U.S. producers,” the petitions read.
The Mexican sugar industry — 20 percent of which is owned and operated by the government — has rapidly increased exports to the United States in recent years, rising from 9 percent of the U.S. market in 2011-12 to nearly 18 percent in 2012-13, the American Sugar Alliance said in a news release.
Over that same period, U.S. sugar prices have fallen dramatically, have been cut in half since late 2011 and are now trading at the low price levels of the 1980s. Under the U.S. sugar program, the Agriculture Department attempts to manage supply and demand by controlling imports, but in 2013 a provision that requires the government to make payers to growers if prices fall low incurred taxpayer costs.
Phillip Hayes, a spokesman for the American Sugar Alliance, commended Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for trying to manage the program, but said, “Unfortunately, the unrelenting flood of dumped and subsidized sugar from Mexico has overwhelmed the U.S. market and USDA’s efforts, and we’ve been left with no alternative but to file these cases.”
Hayes noted that NAFTA explicitly permits the filing of antidumping and countervailing duty cases, and that NAFTA countries have filed 114 such cases against each other since the trade deal went into effect. Of these, Mexico has filed 31 cases against the United States, and the United States has filed 30 against Mexico, not counting the pending sugar petitions.
The sugar producers’ petitions were officially filed by a coalition that includes the American Sugarbeet Growers Association; American Sugar Cane League; American Sugar Refining, Inc.; Florida Sugar Cane League; Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company; Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers, Inc.; Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida; and United States Beet Sugar Association.
The petitions filed with the International Trade Commission and the Commerce Department allege that the Mexican industry has shipped sugar to the United States at dumping margins of 45 percent or more and has received substantial subsidies from Mexican federal and state governments.
All told, these actions will cost U.S. sugar producers nearly $1 billion in net income for the 2013-14 crop year, according to the filings.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) “gives Mexico the right to export sugar to the United States on a tariff-free and quota-free basis — but that does not give the Mexican industry the right to export its surplus to the U.S. market at dumped prices, nor does it permit the [Mexican government] to subsidize its sugar industry without regard to the impact of those subsidies on U.S. producers,” the petitions read.
The Mexican sugar industry — 20 percent of which is owned and operated by the government — has rapidly increased exports to the United States in recent years, rising from 9 percent of the U.S. market in 2011-12 to nearly 18 percent in 2012-13, the American Sugar Alliance said in a news release.
Over that same period, U.S. sugar prices have fallen dramatically, have been cut in half since late 2011 and are now trading at the low price levels of the 1980s. Under the U.S. sugar program, the Agriculture Department attempts to manage supply and demand by controlling imports, but in 2013 a provision that requires the government to make payers to growers if prices fall low incurred taxpayer costs.
Phillip Hayes, a spokesman for the American Sugar Alliance, commended Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for trying to manage the program, but said, “Unfortunately, the unrelenting flood of dumped and subsidized sugar from Mexico has overwhelmed the U.S. market and USDA’s efforts, and we’ve been left with no alternative but to file these cases.”
Hayes noted that NAFTA explicitly permits the filing of antidumping and countervailing duty cases, and that NAFTA countries have filed 114 such cases against each other since the trade deal went into effect. Of these, Mexico has filed 31 cases against the United States, and the United States has filed 30 against Mexico, not counting the pending sugar petitions.
The sugar producers’ petitions were officially filed by a coalition that includes the American Sugarbeet Growers Association; American Sugar Cane League; American Sugar Refining, Inc.; Florida Sugar Cane League; Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company; Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers, Inc.; Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida; and United States Beet Sugar Association.
