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MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico' s sugar industry rejected on
Wednesday a U.S. proposal to resolve a three-year dispute over
Mexico' s right to export all of its surplus sugar duty-free to the
United States.
The powerful National Sugar and Alcohol Industries Chamber also
called on Mexico' s Commerce Ministry to request a North American
Free Trade Agreement dispute panel to resolve the row.
" The U.S. does not seek to respect the NAFTA agreement,
" the chamber said in an open letter distributed to media late
Wednesday.
The United States wants to limit Mexico' s surplus sugar exports
and has disputed the country' s interpretation of the NAFTA
agreement, saying it can only export up to 250, 000 tons of surplus
sugar starting Oct. 1.
The U.S. sugar industry fears that increased Mexican imports
would flood its already oversupplied market, adding to pressure that
has pushed domestic sugar prices to a 22-year low.
The chamber' s director general, Guillermo Beltran, said the
industry rejected the proposal because it did not recognize what
Mexico sees as its right under NAFTA to export to the United States
its entire surplus sugar production duty-free starting Oct. 1.
Talks were held earlier this week in Washington, but Beltran said
Mexico' s deputy commerce minister, Luis de la Calle, returned to
Mexico on Wednesday without any solution.
The dispute broke out in June 1997, when Mexico slapped
anti-dumping duties on U.S. high fructose corn syrup imports, which
are used mostly in soft drinks and bakery products.
The U.S. protested the anti-dumping duties and retaliated by
excluding Mexico from any increase in the amount of sugar it can
export to the United States duty free.
In its letter Wednesday, the chamber complained that the United
States had exported 1.3 million tons of fructose since NAFTA' s
start in 1994, while Mexico had only been able to export 115, 000
tons of duty-free sugar to the United States.
The chamber also called on the Commerce Ministry to suspend high
fructose imports as well as imports of duty-free corn to Mexico
until the United States honored Mexico' s right to export its
surplus sugar production.
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