Pork Duty Defeated
April 15, 2005
Last week, the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) determined that the U.S. pork industry is not materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason or imports of live swine from Canada. The ITC said that the U.S. Department of Commerce's determination that Canadian producers sold slaughter pigs in the United States at less than fair value is incorrect.
The ITC vote means that duties ranging up to 18.87 percent assessed by the Commerce Department will not be imposed. The vote also ends attempts by the National Pork Producers Council and other groups to impose duties on live swine imports from Canada. The groups filed a trade petition in 2004 alleging that Canadian hog producers were receiving illegal subsidies from the Canadian government and were dumping (exporting hogs at a price below their cost of production).
Swine imports from Canada are just 3.3 percent of the total U.S. market and U.S. hog prices are near record levels with the U.S. herd growing.
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