Mexico Aims for Agreement on Sugar Exports to U.S.

October 2nd, 2014

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Category: Sugar

sugar 450x299(Wall Street Journal) – Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Wednesday that Mexico is seeking a negotiated settlement to a dispute over Mexican sugar exports to the U.S., but that failure to reach an accord could lead Mexico to take the case to the World Trade Organization.

The U.S. government in August imposed preliminary tariffs on Mexican sugar imports following complaints by U.S. sugar growers that the Mexican government subsidizes the domestic industry, allowing Mexico to flood the U.S. market with cheap sugar, harming U.S. producers.

Mr. Guajardo told reporters Wednesday that Mexico is aiming for an agreement before the Mexican sugar cane harvest begins, and before the U.S. government decides later this month whether to impose duties as a result of allegations that Mexico is dumping sugar in the U.S.

The antidumping decision is due Oct. 24, and is expected to be announced Oct. 27. A final ruling on the subsidy tariffs is expected early next year.

Fortunately for Mexico, Mr. Guajardo said, the complaint by U.S. sugar producers in March came after most of the sugar from the 2013-2014 harvest had been exported.

He denied that Mexican industry is dumping sugar in the U.S.

“If we don’t reach an agreement, everyone loses,” he said. “The Americans would lose because we’d take them to the WTO, Mexicans would lose because they’d lose access to a fundamental market.”

The American Sugar Alliance, which represents U.S. producers, declined to comment on the case.

Mexico produced just over 6 million tons of sugar in the season that ended in July, down from a record 7 million tons the previous year, when sugar exports to the U.S. were also a record. The new harvest begins at the end of October or early November

 

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