ClO-Lancasler Farming, Saturday, July 6, 1991
Pork Producers
Watch Canadian
Imports
DES MOINES, lowa The
National Pork Producers Council
(NPPC) is disappointed that the
extraordinary challenge commit
tee ruling recently will lead to the
removal of the countervailing duty
on Canadian fresh, chilled, and
frozen pork.
The committee announced that
it will not overturn the actions of
the binational panel that forced the
International Trade Commission
(ITC) to reverse its two previous
opinions that imports of subsidized
Canadian pork product threaten to
injure the U.S. pork industry.
“The fact still remains that the
Canadian government directly
guarantees net income margins for
its pork producers while U.S. pro
ducers arc totally at risk in the
marketplace,” said NPPC Presi
dent John Hardin. “We still believe
that the use of the duty is justified,
and we should have prevailed
based on the merits of the case.
However, the extraordinary chal
lenge committee members used an
exceptionally narrow standard in
their review.”
NPPC will continue to monitor
Canadian pork imports, Hardin
said. “We expect no short-term
increases because pork inventories
are currently low in Canada,” he
said.
‘The federal tripartite program
is the underlying problem which
has caused friction between Cana
dian and U.S. pork producers,”
Hardin said. “If subsidized Cana
dian imports increase dramatical
ly, the U.S. pork industry will con
sider initiating further trade
actions.”
NPPC requested the extraordin
ary challenge review because
NPPC and the ITC believed that
the binational panel departed from
a fundamental rule of procedure
and exceeded its authority. Both
the binational panel and the extra
ordinary challenge procedure were
established under the U.S./Canada
Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
U.S. Trade Ambassador Carla
Hills’ call for the extraordinary
challenge review on March 29
marked the first use of the proce
dure that was also established
under the FTA. The extraordinary
challenge committee consisted of
three retired judges two Cana
dian and one U.S.
The United States imposed the
countervailing duty on fresh,
chilled, and frozen pork in Sep
tember 1989. A separate duly on
subsidized Canadian live hogs
remains unaffected by the extraor
dinary challenge committee’s
ruling.
The pork product duly has had a
significant positive affect on U.S.
pork prices while it has been in
place, according to University of
Missouri Agricultural Economist
Glenn Crimes. The duly likely
increased U.S. pork producers
income by as much as $llB mil
lion, or 55 cents per cwt., in the 12
months after it was imposed. “The
return on the investment could be
as high as $lOO for every $1
invested in the case,” Grimes said.
Because the 3-cent (U.S.) per
pound duly will be lifted, U.S.
Customs will be required to return
the more than $lB million in pork
product duty with interest that it
has collected since September
1989.
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