Hog producers getting dumped on

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Commerce March 7 reaffirmed its October 2004 decision that Canadian producers are dumping live hogs in the United States.
Commerce announced that provisional antidumping duties averaging 10.63 percent will be placed on imports of live hogs from Canada.
Impaired prices. “The flood of low-priced hogs from Canada has pushed down U.S. hog prices and inflicted severe financial harm on U.S. hog producers,” said Jon Caspers, a pork producer from Swaledale, Iowa, and a past president of the National Pork Producers Council.
Countervailing duty. The commerce department’s affirmative dumping determination was issued at the same time as the department’s negative countervailing duty determination.
In its final countervailing duty decision, Commerce found that Canadian hog farmers had received substantial benefits from more than a dozen subsidy programs.
Not illegal. However, the department determined many of the subsidies received were not “illegal” because benefits were also provided to other Canadian agricultural industries.
According to Caspers, while pork producers disagree with commerce’s legal interpretation of the subsidies, the economic impact of these subsidies, regardless of how they might be legally categorized, is dramatic.
By the numbers. He cited information from Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes, who has analyzed both the data from the public record of the CVD case and other available Canadian agricultural data.
Hayes estimated Canadian hog farmers receive benefits ranging from $4 to $6 per hog for the federal subsidy programs and that Quebec producers receive as much as $15 per hog.
Next step. The case will continue to the next step of this proceeding at the International Trade Commission.
The commission will vote in April whether it believes that these dumping Canadian imports have caused or threaten to cause injury to the U.S. hog industry.