Tallahassee, FL – Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam sent a letter to Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank urging the U.S. Department of Commerce to accept the tomato industry’s request for withdrawal of the 1996 antidumping petition and terminate the current suspension agreement.
In 1996, tomato growers in Florida and across the United States, with support from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, filed the antidumping petition requesting relief from unfairly traded imports of fresh tomatoes from Mexico. The 2008 Suspension Agreement, which resulted from the 1996 antidumping petition, was intended to prevent trading partners from undercutting U.S. prices and devastating domestic production.
“Gone unrecognized by new producers in Mexico and unenforced by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the 2008 Suspension Agreement has done little to protect Florida’s tomato growers from unfair competition,” said Commissioner Putnam in the letter.
“Tomato imports reached roughly $1.8 billion last year, three times the value they were when the petition was originally filed in 1996; yet, there has been virtually no change in the underlying reference price in the suspension agreement.”
“Already suffering from weak demand in a difficult economy, Florida’s tomato growers cannot compete in a market flooded by unprecedented imports of tomatoes from Mexico at prices well below the cost of production.”
Earlier this week, the tomato industry filed documents with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission to withdraw the petition, thereby terminating the suspended investigations and the current suspension agreement.