06/16/05 Apple tariffs off ... for now, Part one

It has been months of legal consideration between Mexico's government and courts. But finally, Mexico's government has agreed to lift its almost forty-seven per cent tariff on U.S. Red and Golden Delicious apples & for the time being. ARCHER: Until the new preliminary determination is made by the Ministry of Economia, there will be no tariffs on Red and Golden Delicious exported from the Northwest. But as Jim Archer of Northwest Fruit Exporters points out, all the Mexican government is doing is siding with a court order from last year. ARCHER: The Ministry of Economia announced that they would follow the instruction of the Mexican courts and that is to restart the dumping investigation back to the point of March 1997, and it will follow the original period of the investigation which consisted of a reporting period of January through June of 1996. Meaning a determination of the new investigation at best guess by U.S.D.A.'s Foreign Agricultural Service would be reached within three to four months. That is at least how long the zero tariff is expected to be in place. Archer says the zero rate duty could be in effect longer depending on the findings of the investigation. Then again, a ruling could also mean a tariff higher than the previous amount. How the investigation plays out will be up to the ability of exporters to obtain and report numbers. More on that in our next program.