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MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)--Mexico expects to maintain its
anti-dumping duties on high fructose corn syrup imports from the
U.S. and to show the tariffs are in compliance with World Trade
Organization regulations, government and industry officials said.
Sources at Mexico's Commerce Ministry and the National Sugar and
Alcohol Chamber said a new study will confirm by a WTO Sept. 22
deadline that there was sufficient damage to the local sugar
industry to warrant anti-dumping duties.
"It's a dumping case. That has been proven all along, and the
duties will most certainly remain," said a source close to the
Commerce Ministry's team handling the case.
In January, the Geneva-based WTO said in its final ruling on the
three-year sweetener dispute that the initiation of the anti-dumping
probe was consistent with WTO regulations. But it said there were
inconsistencies in Mexico's methods for determining levels of damage
to the local industry, which should be corrected by Sept. 22.
Under international trade laws, countries must not only show
dumping exists, but also prove that a certain level of injury is
caused to the local industry before anti-dumping duties can be
imposed.
Mexico imposed final anti-dumping duties ranging from $55.37 to
$175.50 per metric ton of different grades HFCS imports from the
U.S. in January 1998, following the Commerce Ministry's probe into
complaints by the Chamber that U.S. corn refiners exported the
fructose at below U.S. market prices.
The U.S. Corn Refiners Association, charging Mexico with erecting
barriers against free trade and protecting local industry,
complained to the U.S. Trade Representative's office, which took the
case to the WTO.
Mexico Says Injury Margin Remains With New Study
Guillermo Beltran, the sugar chamber's director general, said in
an interview that Mexico is finalising its reply to the WTO, which
will show that the injury margin still justifies the anti-dumping
duties.
"The anti-dumping duties will remain in place," said a
senior Commerce Ministry official who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
The WTO said Mexico was inconsistent in that it determined threat
of material injury on the basis of only a part of domestic
production, and not the industry as a whole.
The Commerce Ministry source said that even when Mexico
calculates injury based on the industry as a whole, the damage
margin will be sufficient to justify imposing tariffs under WTO
regulations.
The determination of threat of material injury also requires
"a significant rate of dumped imports into the domestic market
indicating the likelihood of substantially increased
importations," according to the WTO.
High fructose imports to Mexico rose from virtually nothing in
1995 to around 350,000 tons in 1997 when preliminary anti-dumping
duties were imposed, according to trade statistics.
According to the Commerce Ministry, consumption of HFCS in Mexico
took off after NAFTA took effect in 1994, when there was a tiny
local consumption of some 50,000 tons and hardly any imports.
The case has also been taken to a dispute panel under NAFTA,
while Mexico and the U.S. are involved in separate negotiations over
the size of Mexico's access to U.S. duty-free sugar quotas.
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