Australia, Brazil sugar industry groups concerned by U.S.-Mexico pact

November 19th, 2014

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Category: Sugar

Sugar pile 450x299(Reuters) – Australian and Brazilian sugar industry groups on Tuesday criticized a U.S.-Mexico suspension agreement drafted to end to a trade dispute between the two North American countries, according to letters published on the U.S. Department of Commerce website on Tuesday.

The Australia Sugar Industry Alliance and Brazil’s Sindacucar expressed concerns in letters sent to the U.S. government regarding a suspension agreement drafted by the United States and Mexico to end heavy duties on U.S. imports of Mexican sugar.

The deal, if finalized, would give Mexico a flexible quota to export to its northern neighbor above U.S. output and import quota guaranteed to other foreign supplies through trade agreements.

Australia and Brazil are among those quota holders. The comments sent to the U.S. government ahead of a Nov. 18 deadline underscore that the global impacts of the trade case.

“The USA is an important export market for Australia,” said Warren Males, head of economics for Australia’s Canegrowers group, who signed the Nov. 17 letter from the Alliance.

“We believe that any additional raw sugar requirements to the USA market beyond the (tariff-rate quota) requirements should continue to be shared with existing TRQ holders as is current practice.”

Brazil’s Sindacucar expressed similar worries in a letter published on the Commerce Department’s website later on Tuesday.

The deal does not “respect the rights of (quota) holders to supply additional volumes of sugar” to the United States above the minimums required by trade agreements, the group’s President Renato Cunha said in a Nov. 18 letter.

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