000624 IBP Seeks NAFTA Panel To Review Mexico Beef Duties

Washington – IBP Inc, the largest U.S. beef processor, has asked for a NAFTA panel to review anti-dumping duties imposed by.

Mexico has been the second largest U.S. beef export market in recent years. The government imposed the final anti-dumping duties in late April.

The U.S. beef industry has strongly denied selling beef in the Mexican market below the cost of production.

IBP requested the review panel on May 25 under provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Commerce Department said in a Federal Register notice.

U.S. beef groups have expressed outrage at how Mexico plans to apply the duties, which fall hardest on low-quality and frozen U.S. beef products.

Acting on a petition filed by local cattle producers, Mexico's Secretariat of Commerce and Industrial Development (SECOFI) published its decision in the case on April 28.

While it removed preliminary duties imposed last year on beef offal, such as tongues and liver, it imposed a complex set of final duties on most beef carcasses and cuts.

The duties fall hardest on beef not graded USDA Select or Choice and not from an animal slaughtered in the last 30 days.

U.S. cattle industry officials say it is a violation of international trade rules to use anti- dumping duties to set minimum quality standards.

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com