Commerce: Brazil dumps orange juice on U.S. market

Commerce: Brazil dumps orange juice on U.S. market    The U.S. Commerce Department has ruled that Brazil dumps orange juice on the U.S. market.
   Dumping is the import of goods at a price below the domestic market or a third-country price, or below the cost of production.
   In an Aug. 17 preliminary affirmative determination, the department calculated dumping margins ranging up to 60.29 percent. A dumping margin represents by how much the fair-value price, as calculated by the Commerce Department, exceeds the dumped price.
   Imposition of antidumping duties requires final affirmative determinations both from the Commerce Department that dumping occurred and from the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that the imports injured U.S. industry. The Commerce Department is expected to make a final ruling in January 2006.
   If Commerce Department and ITC make final affirmative determinations on critical circumstances, antidumping duties may be applied retroactively on imports that entered the country since May.
   Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection will collect a cash deposit or bond on Brazilian orange juice imports equal to the preliminary dumping margins. The money will be returned if a negative determination is made by the Commerce Department and ITC.
   The Brazilian orange juice shippers (including dumping margins) affected by the ruling include:
   * Fischer S/A — Agroindustria — 31.04 percent.
   * Montecitrus Industria e Comercio Limitada — 60.29 percent.
   * Sucocitrico Cutrale, S.A. — 24.62 percent.
   * All others — 27.16 percent.
   The value of U.S. imports of Brazilian orange juice amounted to $98.6 million in 2004, 38 percent down from $153 million in 2003.