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New York--July 11--The next US sugar-import quota should be
announced before the start of the fiscal year in Oct, after last
year's announcement was late, Washington officials said this week.
Talks with Mexico over increased access for
its sugar make the date for setting the quota uncertain, however.
It's unknown whether Mexico's bigger quota will affect quotas held
by other countries.
"We're hoping to have the tariff-rate quota settled and
announced by Oct 1," the start of the fiscal year, said Jim
Grueff, Assistant Deputy Director with the Foreign Agriculture
Service (FAS) at USDA. "We'll have some discussions with
Mexico between now and then."
US officials met with Mexican counterparts in late June to
exchange sugar supply-demand statistics. The next talks haven't been
scheduled, but will be held "soon," according to the
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in Washington.
Under terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
Mexico may be authorized to export 250,000 tonnes of sugar to the
U.S., duty free, in fiscal 2001, compared with 25,000 tonnes
currently, observers said. It hasn't been
decided whether imports allowed from Mexico in 2001 will be in the
form of raw or refined sugar, or both.
The USDA will set the size of the quota within World Trade
Organization (WTO) rules, and the USTR will divide the total between
trading partners, according to the USTR.
A key issue is whether Mexico's increased sugar quota will affect
the size of import quotas held by other nations.
"Other countries want to know if they will have the same share
of a smaller pie," said John Love, agricultural economist with
FAS, USDA.
The US is required under WTO rules to allow 1.139 million tonnes
(1.256 million short tons) of sugar into the country duty-free from
forty nations. It's unknown whether Mexico's increased access will
be within the WTO quota or if it
will be "on top" or outside the quota, Love said.
"Trading partners want Mexican sugar to come in on top of
the quota," said a desk trader with an agricultural
conglomerate.
The USDA hasn't indicated whether it will set the import quota at
a level that would ensure non-recourse loans for US growers in the
new fiscal year, observers said.
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