On April 27th, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) granted standing to the Imperial Sugar Co. and AmCane Sugar LLC in the antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) cases filed last year against Mexico’s sugar industry.
The AD/CVD cases (both the investigation and the AD/CVD preliminary duties) had been suspended following an agreement reached between the U.S. and Mexican governments, but the investigation was restarted as a result of the latest DOC decision. The terms of the agreed-upon settlement will remain in place during the continued investigation. The U.S. sugar industry made the following statement regarding the matter.
“The DOC’s decision to continue investigating the Mexican sugar industry is disappointing since the vast majority of parties involved, including the U.S. and Mexican governments, had reached an amicable settlement. That being said, we remain confident in the strength of the underlying AD/CVD cases filed last year. It is clear that Mexican sugar producers gained an unfair trading advantage through dumping and subsidization and that those acts materially injured U.S. sugar producers and U.S. taxpayers. Both the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission have issued preliminary rulings in our favor, and we are confident that the final decisions after the investigation will follow suit.”
The DOC must make a final determination about dumping and subsidization by mid-September. Until then, the terms of the agreed-upon settlement will remain in place. During the investigation, a few beet and cane growers and all processors will need to provide important information to the DOC.
It should also be noted that Imperial Sugar and AmCane are also appealing the unanimous (6-0) decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission, arguing to the Court of International Trade in New York City that the suspension agreements did not “completely eliminate” the harmful effects of the subsidies and dumping by the Mexican industry. A decision by the court is unlikely until after the DOC investigation concludes this fall.
TPP Negotiations
Assuming that Congress approves the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill by mid-May, chief negotiators from the 12 countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership were scheduled to meet May 15-25 in Guam in an attempt to complete the negotiations.
Bipartisan leaders of the House Sugar Caucus and Senate Sweetener Caucus, on behalf of their colleagues in sugar producing areas, expressed and reinforced their concerns to the U.S. Trade Representative and his negotiators that our industry and policy must not be harmed in their efforts to complete the agreement. These political pressures, along with uncertain future access by Mexico to our market, are critical considerations that our negotiators and the TPP trading partners must take seriously as they attempt to finalize the deal.
AGOA
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was signed into law in 2000 with the intent of offering tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets.
During the Senate Finance Committee consideration of the reauthorization of the AGOA, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) offered an amendment—in yet another attempt to harm U.S. sugar policy—to allow free trade in sugar with the sub-Saharan African countries that is similar to our free trade with Mexico. That amendment was rejected 10-16.
Federal Budget
For the first time in 14 years, both the House and Senate passed a budget. The Senate bill had no cuts in agricultural spending over the next 10 years; the House version had $1 billion in cuts over 10 years.
When the Senate bill was being debated on the Senate floor, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) filed an amendment to make numerous harmful changes in sugar policy, but she did not offer the amendment. When the two bills were negotiated into a conference report, the $1 billion in cuts in the House bill were dropped, so agriculture, which took significant cuts in the farm bill, will not have to take further cuts in FY 2016. This is great news for all of agriculture, which collectively battled against further cuts.
FY 2016 Ag Appropriations
Republicans controlling both houses of Congress are attempting to move the appropriations bills through the legislative process as individual bills rather than making one big bill (“omnibus”) or a couple of bills with multiple appropriations (“minibus”).
It is uncertain whether the Ag Approps bill will be voted on by itself or grouped with other appropriations bills. This will be another opportunity for our opponents to try to harm our policy, and we fully expect sugar amendments to be offered on the House and Senate floor.
Biotechnology
The debate over biotechnology rages on and the agricultural industry has recognized that it must speak up and push back on those who spew untruths about biotechnology.
The sugar industry will be among those who will engage consumers and educate them about the safety benefits of using the technology. Fourteen spokeswomen from 10 sugar states have stepped up and are preparing to help fight this battle. They are an outstanding group of smart, talented, articulate and committed individuals who will make a difference in the future of this technology. Their education and training will be conducted this summer, and they will be ready to engage at the local, state and national levels when needed.
As of the first of May, we are still waiting for the Senate to propose a GMO labeling bill like the one introduced by in the House by Congressmen Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) and G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), which has garnered nationwide support from almost 400 state and national organizations. We support these efforts rather than having to battle a patchwork of state initiatives that make interstate trade almost impossible.
Retirements
On May 1 we said goodbye to two wonderful and dedicated leaders in the beet sugar industry.
Vic Jaro, Amalgamated Sugar CEO, was a true leader in our industry and worked passionately on the biotech issues that we faced over the years. Elin Peltz worked in government relations for the U.S. Beet Sugar Association and for the Hawaiian sugar industry and USDA many years ago. She was always a wonderful and gracious representative of our industry.
We salute Vic and Elin for their dedicated service to this industry for so many years, and wish them the best as they now enjoy their retirement.