Canadian Corn Growers Petition for Dumping Duties on U.S. Corn
Canadian government will begin countervailing duties and anti-dumping investigation.
Compiled by staff
Published: Sep 19, 2005
The Canadian Border Services Agency accepted a petition from Canadian corn growers requesting anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) on U.S. corn late last week.
While no duties will be immediately imposed, the Canadian government will begin CVD and/or AD investigations, which will take several months to complete. This action could lead to duties in the near future that would affect approximately 100 million bushels of U.S. corn exports to Canada and have a seriously detrimental impact on the Canadian livestock and corn processing industries.
A joint statement by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman states the two "do not believe the petition contained sufficient evidence of injury to Canadian corn growers to initiate an investigation. Imports of U.S. corn into Canada are actually down over the past two years. While Canada's corn production has increased, Canada's domestic corn demand still cannot be met through domestic production alone. "
Canada conducted two prior investigations of U.S. corn imports, revoking a countervailing duty order after a GATT panel decision was adopted in 1992 and finding no injury in a second investigation in 2001.
Prior to the launch of this case, many Canadian corn users expressed their opposition to this case moving forward, Johanns and Portman state. The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) has estimated that if a potential tariff on American imports adds almost $1 a bushel to the price of corn, it would take up to $10 per animal off the bottom line of the country's hog producers. The increase in the cost of corn would also drive up barley prices in Western Canada, hurting hog growers in that part of the country as well, according to CPC.
According to a statement from the U.S. Grains Council, the Council, the National Corn Growers Association and the Corn Refiners Association intend to continue working with the U.S. government to argue against the imposition of any duties.
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Tagged: National Corn Growers Association, Bushel, barley, corn production, corn demand
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