After the Mexican Secretariat of Economy's, Economia, move to publish a notice in the Feb. 8 Diario Oficial — Mexico’s official government organ — that it will begin an anti-dumping investigation on the import of certain U.S. chicken products, the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council responded by saying that the poultry industry will fight the case.
Economia published the notice on behalf of Bachoco and two other companies, Productores Avicolas de Tehuacan SA de CV and Buenaventura. Import tariff lines included in the notification cover a range of fresh and frozen dark-meat chicken products, such as leg quarters, thighs, drumsticks and boneless legs and thighs. No turkey products are included in the investigation. “We’re a bit surprised by this case,” said Jim Sumner, president of the USAPEEC. “The U.S. and Mexican industries have a long history of cooperation. We look forward to resolving this case promptly."
According to Sumner, the Mexican Poultry Producers Association,UNA, and many public officials were unaware of the charges being brought against the U.S. “In fact, the UNA has said that the organization does not support the anti-dumping investigation,” said Sumner.
The USAPEEC has retained a Mexican law firm, Uruchurtu and Associates, to contest the allegations, and has also retained the services of Gary Horlick, a Washington, D.C.-based trade lawyer. “We intend to fight these baseless allegations aggressively on behalf of the U.S. chicken industry and in cooperation with the U.S. government,” said Horlick. “This case lacks justification. The main petitioner just reported a sales increase for 2010 of nearly 10%, and our calculations show that U.S. companies were not selling their chicken to Mexico at prices below the U.S. price, which is the definition of dumping.”
