| WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A Michigan sugar company that
won a court case last year to stay in business says it could soon have to
shut its doors because of a possible back-room congressional deal.
Greg Kozak, president of Heartland By-Products, said lawmakers from
sugar-producing states are intent on shutting down his business without
any hearings in the waning days of this year's legislative session.
"That is their goal," Kozak told Reuters
Heartland has angered U.S. sugar producers by importing sugar syrup
from Canada. The Taylor, Michigan firm sought and received a Customs Service
ruling in 1995 that enables it to import the mixture without paying high duties under the U.S. tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for imported sugar.
The TRQ is a key feature of a federal farm program that is intended to
shield U.S. producers from low world sugar prices.
U.S. sugar cane refiners and sugar beet processors petitioned Customs
to overturn its 1995 ruling and were successful last year. But Heartland
challenged the decision and won in the U.S. Court of International Trade
in New York.
Jim Johnson, president of the U.S. Beet Sugar Association, said he
hopes Kozak has "good reason" for being nervous. Kozak's company
has been circumventing the U.S. TRQ for years, to the detriment of U.S.
sugar producers, he said.
A spokesman for Sen. Byron Dorgan, North Dakota Democrat, confirmed
sugar-state senators are searching for a legislative vehicle to reclassify
the sugar syrup to make it subject to high import duties under the TRQ.
"They're looking for a place to include it and they will be doing
that in a bipartisan fashion," the aide said.
If the lawmakers are successful, they would be shutting down Heartland
by circumventing the court system, Kozak said. "How about that, if
you want to talk about circumvention."
Beet processors have appealed the U.S. trade court's ruling, but a
decision in that phase of the case may not come until next year.
Kozak complained that congressional efforts to reclassify the sugar are
all taking placing behind closed doors, without giving Heartland a chance
to make its case.
Critics say Heartland already has benefited for three years from a
"loophole" in the TRQ.
The Michigan firm, which is owned by the U.S. subsidiary of the British
trading House E D & F Man Group Plc <EMG.L>, began operations in
1997.
The U.S. Agriculture Department estimates the company now imports the
equivalent of about 125,000 short tons of sugar under its low tariff
classification. That equals about seven percent of expected total U.S.
sugar imports this year.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said earlier this year the
administration backs efforts to reclassify the sugar syrup that Heartland
imports.
Heartland has support from the Consumer Federation of America, a
frequent critic of federal sugar policies.
"While some sugar beet growers clearly are suffering under today's
low prices, this amendment is not the way to assist them," the CFA
said in a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican.
Reclassifying the sugar would preempt the federal appeals court and
violate U.S. trade commitments, the CFA said. |