| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2003 |
Contact: Marie DesOrmeaux
(202) 225-3772 |
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| (Washington, D.C.) Fourth District
Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) announced on Thursday that the US Department of
Agriculture has awarded $178,714 to the University of Arkansas at Pine
Bluff for a research project comparing domestic catfish and Vietnamese
basa.
“This project is critical in helping our local catfish farmers compete with Vietnamese imports,” Ross said. “Before my provision in the Farm Bill prohibited it, Vietnamese importers would pass off basa and tra fillets as catfish, when they are not even the same species. That practice hurt our local farmers tremendously. This study will prove once and for all that the quality of product coming into our country is no match for what is homegrown right here in Arkansas.” The two and a half year project will be done in cooperation with Mississippi State University. Researchers at the two universities will compare domestic catfish with Vietnamese basa fillets to define differences in taste, color, texture, and consistency, and use the results to see how the quality differences affect consumers. UAPB will also build an equilibrium model to see the effects of imports on the US industry, specifically the catfish industry in Chicot County. In July, the International Trade Commission (ITC) sided with domestic catfish producers in the antidumping petition filed against Vietnam, saying that Vietnamese imports caused injury to the domestic catfish industry. The dumping investigation comes after a June 28, 2002 antidumping petition filed by the Catfish Farmers of America. Ross wrote a letter of support for that petition, and also voted for the Disapproving Most Favored Nation Status for Vietnam (H.J.Res 101) Resolution in protest of Vietnam flooding U.S. markets with frozen fillets at prices that hurt Arkansas catfish farmers. |
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