Around 330 beet growers and several of their families attended the 2015 ASGA Annual Meeting on Feb. 1-3 in Long Beach, Calif.
An array of speakers delved into many topics. The impact of the anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) cases on Mexican sugar exports to the United States and U.S. sugar policy were top issues.
Jim Wiesemeyer, Informa Economics senior vice president, told growers he expects the final suspension agreements announced Dec. 19 that set aside the underlying AD/CVD investigations will hold.
U.S. cane refiners Imperial Sugar Company and AmCane Sugar filed a challenge to those agreements on Jan. 8. They petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to determine whether the suspension agreements actually “eliminated completely” the “injurious effect of imports” on the domestic industry.
If the ITC determines that injury has been fully ameliorated, the suspension agreements will remain in effect. On the other hand, if the ITC determines that injury was not completely eliminated, the suspension agreements would be scrapped and both the ITC and DOC would resume work on the underlying AD/CVD investigations.
The statute grants the ITC only 75 days from the filing date to make this determination, which means that it needs to be completed by March 24.
Craig Ruffolo, McKeany-Flavell vice president, explained how sugar is marketed in Mexico as compared to the U.S. Most troublesome for the Mexican mills are the complicated nature of solving their cash flow problems.
“Mills may turn to trade houses for a needed infusion of capital,” Ruffolo said. “Mexico doesn’t have banks to help mills.”
He said it’s not in Mexico’s best interest to flood the U.S. market.
Ruffolo added that the two nations are not too far apart to create a joint market. Both nations want stability in the market.
Speaker Bob Cassidy told the growers that the USDA will inform the ITC that the agreements do eliminate the injury.
Cassidy served as general counsel of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative from 1979-1981 and International Trade Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance from 1975-1979.
“If the final ITC determination is negative, then there will be no restrictions on sugar trade with Mexico,” he said.
Barb Fesco, USDA sugar program manager, said the suspension agreements would eliminate uncertainty about what to expect from Mexico.
“I can’t imagine the ITC not finding damages,” she said.
Don Phillips, American Sugar Alliance trade consultant, believes the Trans-Pacific Partnership is the only trade agreement likely to be completed this year. He expects a big push to get Trade Promotion Authority passed for President Obama this year.
Farm bill implementation is under way. Wiesemeyer said there will be some delays in program rollouts and changes in payment caps.
Larry Combest, Washington, D.C., lobbyist and former Ag Committee Chair, doesn’t see Congress re-opening the farm bill.
“Because it is law, I think there’ll be a lot of effort to try to protect it, but you always have potential of other bills that can have an impact so you constantly have to be on guard.”