| MEXICO CITY, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Mexican trade officials said
Monday that anti-dumping duties on U.S. imports of high fructose corn
syrup (HFCS) were fair and legal, and questioned renewed calls from the
United States for a World Trade Organisation investigation.
``The WTO told us to review our policies (on Jan 14), and we were able
to ratify the validity of the duties,'' a Trade Ministry Official told
Reuters, referring to a Sept 20 decision by the government. ``That is
Mexico's official position, Mexico has responded.''
Mexico and the U.S. are caught up in an often acrimonious,
parry-and-thrust debate over the exchange of sugar and corn syrup across
their shared, 2,000-mile border.
Mexico says a rise in HFCS imports from the United States since 1996
harmed its local sugar producers, depressing sales, raising industry
unemployment and leaving some sugar refineries virtually listing.
High fructose corn syrup has displaced sugar as the key sweetener used
in Mexico's enormous soft-drink industry, cutting the sugar industry stake
in what growers say is a fundamental market.
On Monday, U.S. trade ambassador Rita Hayes told a meeting of the WTO
Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) in Geneva that Mexico's duties were in
violation of free trade rules and asked the global trade watchdog to
investigate.
``We responded to this issue finally on Sept 20,'' the Mexican
spokesman said, referring to Mexico's official ratification of the
two-year-old anti-dumping duties on imports of the corn syrup.
The September decision, published in Mexico's Diario Official, or
Federal Gazette, said a careful investigation of WTO and U.S. concerns
revealed anti-dumping measures to be fair.
Duties on U.S. imports of high fructose corn syrup range from $55.37 to
$175.50 per metric ton, with companies like the Archer Daniels Midland Co.
(NYSE:ADM - news), the largest U.S. grain processor, paying the least and
companies like agricultural giant Cargill Inc. paying the most.
``It was determined that in the period between Jan 1 and Dec 31 of
1996, national producers were threatened by the rise in imports of high
fructose corn syrup from the United States,'' the decision said.
THE SUGAR DEBATE
Mexican sugar producers may have reason for concern as a related debate
over how much sugar it can export to the United States under North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) rules was stalled as it was going
against the Mexican interest.
The United States has limited the Mexican sugar quota to 116,000 metric
tons in the 2001 season while Mexico feels it is entitled to export more
than five times that, or the roughly 600,000 tons that make up its
surplus. U.S. producers fear the local sugar market would be flooded if
authorities allowed the import of the entire Mexican surplus.
Mexico said in August it would take the issue before a NAFTA
arbitration panel and sporadic talks since then have been unsuccessful.
Mexico, the No. 8 sugar producer, is desperately seeking markets for
its sugar and would prefer to export to the United States where it would
receive a better price for the commodity than on world markets.
The Dominican Republic, Brazil and the Philippines are to receive the
largest share of the U.S. sugar tariff-rate quota in 2001. |