On Wednesday, July 2, the Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, Luis Rosendo Gutiérrez, and the Secretary of Agriculture, Julio Berdegué, met in Washington with U.S. tomato producers to advance in the negotiation of an agreement.
Mexico is in negotiations with the United States to reach a new agreement to avoid the imposition of a 20.91% dumping quota on Mexican tomato exports, whose deadline expires on July 15, informed the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), Leonel Cota Montaño.
“I hope that in 72 hours we can have news from the Secretary of Agriculture and the Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, and that these can be positive,” said the federal official.
On Wednesday, July 2, the Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, Luis Rosendo Gutierrez, and the Secretary of Agriculture, Julio Berdegué, met in Washington with U.S. tomato producers to advance in the negotiation of an agreement.
Cota Montaño considered that the negotiations are favorable, since there is a “very good attitude” among the parties involved.
After his participation in the launching event of the “Mexican Potato ‘Apapáchate’” campaign, promoted by the National Confederation of Potato Producers of the Mexican Republic (Conpapa), he said that the previous opening to cattle exports opens the possibility of reaching a “successful” agreement for Mexico.
“The quality of Mexican tomato will prevail. It is very good, better than that of our competitors in the United States, and this will mainly open up the California market, which is the one that Mexico is most interested in. We are in very good condition,” he added.
Jorge Esteve Recolons, president of the National Agri-Food Council (CNA), recalled that the conflict over the possible imposition of the 20.91% countervailing duty on Mexican tomatoes exported to the US has been going on for years (since 1996), when Florida producers accused Mexico of dumping (they claim that they export at prices below their real production cost, due to subsidies).
He added that suspensive agreements have been reached between the Department of Commerce, five groups of U.S. tomato growers and Mexican producers. The last agreement expired this year.
“There have been four negotiations. At the time, the Americans made a demand and a study of whether there were subsidies for Mexican tomatoes, which allowed them to be introduced at subsidized prices according to the Americans,” he noted.
“Then Mexico made an agreement between the U.S. Department of Commerce and five groups of tomato growers who negotiate every four or five years the terms. Now it is over and they are renegotiating, but the negotiation seems a little more complex,” said the president of the CNA.
He considered that if the compensatory tariffs were imposed, U.S. consumers would pay 20% more for Mexican tomatoes. For this reason, he is confident that an agreement will be reached so as not to affect the domestic market.
He pointed out that Mexican tomato producers do not compete directly with U.S. producers because the varieties shipped from Mexico are very different.
In addition, U.S. producers lack sufficient labor, have not bet on innovation and even have to invest in greenhouses that “every two years a hurricane destroys them”.
Jorge Esteve Recolons said that Mexican tomato exports to the United States exceed 8,000 million dollars a year, a significant amount.