01/04/05 Mexico to drop duty on apples

01/04/05 Mexico to drop duty on apples

Washington Ag January 4, 2005 Some good news for Washington's apple industry. Mexico has agreed to end that 46 percent anti-dumping duty on Pacific Northwest Red and Golden Delicious apples. Jim Archer, manager of Northwest Fruit Exporters, says Mexico is an extremely important market for Northwest apples and the organization is pleased the protracted trade issue has been resolved. Archer says the only disappointment is that the tariffs are not ending immediately. Archer: "It was our expectation that that agreement would take effect immediately but to our surprise the implementation date of it is February 28th, which means we are going to have about a two-month delay in shipments. So we are a bit disappointed in that outcome." Archer also notes that Mexico is closing a major apple receiving port for a month for unexplained reasons. But he believes that without that 46 percent tariff about two-million cartons of apples would have gone to Mexico during January and February compared to the recent shipping pace of about 720-thousand likely over the same period. Archer: "It is a substantial difference between having that agreement in place and operating under a 46% duty." Increased sales to Mexico would help offset the recent loss of Taiwan which banned northwest apples over the coddling moth issue. I'm Bob Hoff.
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