Daily Advertiser: Commerce: Mexico dumping sugar; fees to be imposed
Government subsidies are giving Mexican sugar companies an unfair trade advantage, the U.S. Dept. of Commerce said Tuesday, a ruling that may help Louisiana's 630 sugar growers stay afloat.
That preliminary determination in a Commerce investigation of Mexican sugar imports means U.S. Customs and Border Protection will impose a fee on Mexican companies sending sugar to this country.
Petitioners for the investigation were the American Sugar Coalition and its members, which include the American Sugar Cane League of Louisiana, who complained to the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Commerce Department that Mexican sugar growers were dumping their products in the U.S. Producers filed antidumping and countervailing duty petitions against Mexico on March 28.
Jim Simon, manager of the American Sugar Cane League in Louisiana, echoed a Sugar Coalition statement issued Tuesday that said, "The DOC's finding validates our claim that the flood of Mexican sugar, which is harming America's sugar producers and workers, is subsidized by the Mexican government."
Mexico shipped more than 2 million tons of sugar valued at more than a billion dollars into the U.S. in 2013. The U.S. Farm Bill does not let the price of sugar sink below 20.5 cents a pound, and has bought some $278 million of sugar to prop up prices.
"Once this process is complete and it is determined that illegal activity occurred, Mexican sugar producers will pay a steep price that will cover the losses our Louisiana sugar producers suffered and act as a deterrent to prevent other countries from trying this in the future," U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said. "Our sugar producers work too hard and are too important to our economy to let illegal dumping go unpunished."
The investigation covered sugar derived from sugar cane or sugar beets.
ITC made a preliminary determination May 9 that Mexico was dumping sugar in the U.S. Its final decision will occur Feb. 23. The Commerce department will make its final determination Jan. 7.
