990637 U.S. Producers Have A Beef With Mexico Meat Tariff

Mexico City - U.S. beef producers dispute charges they are dumping beef on the Mexican market, charging that Mexican consumers would only suffer if authorities impose compensatory tariffs.

Mexican producers have become increasingly concerned in recent years over U.S. beef finding its way south, whether it be the finer cuts or the beef brains, tripe and tongue used in many traditional tacos.

Mexico's Trade Ministry Secofi began an investigation last Oct. 20 into Mexican allegations that U.S. meatpackers were dumping beef, following complaints by Mexican producers that U.S. imports were hurting several links in the local production chain.

“The harm to Mexican producers is the fault of other factors, like the 1994 peso devaluation, a drought for the past four years and lack of finance,” Gilberto Lozano, the head of U.S. Meat Export Federation, said.

Mexico is the biggest export market for U.S. beef after Japan, annually buying 115,000 metric tons from its northern neighbor, local producers say.

Lozano estimated that 13% of all beef consumed in Mexico and 30% of that sold in supermarkets, comes from the United States.

Juan Carlos Arreola, of Uruchurtu & Arreola, a Mexican law firm specializing in international trade, said Mexican producers cannot meet domestic demand.

Statistics agency INEGI says Mexicans eat a per capita annual average of 33.9 pounds (15.4 kgs) of beef, which Arreola says amounts to total demand of 1.47 million metric tons from a population of 95.5 million.

Arreola said the number of officially inspected slaughterhouses had increased since the second half of 1997, the period when Mexican producers said the U.S. was dumping, while live cattle herds were declining.

“The (negative) effect of imports on the Mexican beef industry ought to be felt in plant closure and an increase in herds,” he said.

The Agriculture Ministry said Mexico had 29 million live beef cattle in 1997, the latest year for which figures are available, down from 31.3 million in 1994.

Mexican beef producer sources say that herds may have declined to around 17 million.

Lozano said anti-dumping measures, including a debated compensatory tariff of between 40% and 200% on beef imported from the United States, would not help boost domestic production in Mexico.

“In case Secofi decides to impose (import) quotas to U.S. products, Mexico would have to import live cattle from alternative sources, like Canada, Australia or New Zealand, which would raise costs due to greater distances and higher tariffs,” he said.

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