U.S. meat shippers “disappointed” with Mexico’s import ruling

U.S. meat shippers “disappointed” with Mexico’s import ruling

U.S. meat shippers “disappointed” with Mexico’s import ruling

   The Mexican government will publish a 95-page ruling this week on how it intends to comply with a report issued in March by a binational North American Free Trade Agreement panel on the country’s antidumping case against U.S. beef. However, U.S. meat shippers don’t believe the ruling will go far enough.
   The ruling is expected to eliminate duties on exports of U.S. beef carcasses. In addition, the ruling will:
   * Remove the requirement that U.S. beef can only be exported to Mexico within 30 days of slaughter.
   * Allow U.S. beef companies to resume exporting upgraded beef to Mexico, although they will have to pay the duties previously assigned to them by the Mexican government.
   * Recognize name changes of several U.S. companies, allowing them to export to Mexico under their new names and pay the duties previously assigned by the Mexican government instead of the 63 cents per kilogram assigned to all U.S. companies that didn’t receive specific duty rates.
   * Confirm the imposition of antidumping duties on both bone-in and boneless products.
   “We’re disappointed that despite NAFTA these duties remain in place,” said Richard Fritz, vice president of trade development for the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), in a statement Tuesday. “We believe the U.S.-Mexican border should be a shining example of free trade.”
   The federation advises individual companies that have been assessed an antidumping duty to closely study the official notice to determine whether or not they want to appeal and on what grounds an appeal could be based.
   The Mexican government’s report was in response to a decision in Mexico’s antidumping case against U.S. beef released March 16 by a binational NAFTA panel. Mexico imposed antidumping duties on U.S. beef in April 2000 and amended its antidumping and countervailing duty laws in December 2002.
   According to the USMEF, in the first eight months of 2004, Mexico was the leading export destination for U.S. beef. The U.S. exported 102,748 metric tons of beef and related meat products valued at $298.2 million.
   “Exports to Mexico are far less than prior years because Mexico is currently accepting only boneless beef from animals less than 30 months of age and produced under an approved Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Beef Export Verification (BEV) program,” the federation said.