OTTAWA – The viability of the two prairie sugar beet processing plants would be in question without protection from low-cost dumped imported sugar, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal said last week.
In written reasons explaining an earlier decision to maintain high anti-dumping duties on refined sugar imports from the United States and the European Union, the tribunal said it concluded that dumped imports have sharply curtailed Canadian sugar processors’ profits.
It said the $750 million refined sugar industry needed protection.
The U.S. and EU #limit imports and subsidize domestic sugar prices, encouraging surpluses which then are dumped in world markets, including Canada.
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“Testimony during the inquiry confirmed that surpluses would continue in the future and that dumped and subsidized refined sugar would continue to disrupt the Canadian market if duties were not imposed,” said the federally appointed trade tribunal.
And the depressed prices would lead to reduced Canadian production, a smaller domestic market and “inadequate” returns.
“The tribunal is persuaded that the threat of injury from dumped and subsidized imports jeopardizes the existence of at least one Canadian sugar refinery, as well as the two sugar beet processing plants,” said CITT.
Rogers Sugar Ltd. operates sugar beet processing plants in Winnipeg and Taber, Alta., providing a market worth tens of millions of dollars to Canada’s 750 sugar beet growers.
Proof of unfair competition
At the Canadian Sugar Institute, representing sugar refiners in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Saint John, N.B., as well as the beet processors, the CITT analysis and protective action was seen as proof of its arguments about unfair foreign competition.
“The tribunal decision will restore normal competitive conditions to the Canadian marketplace,” said Institute president Sandra Marsden of Toronto.
The CITT ruling provides legal basis for anti-dumping duties of between 69 and 85 percent on imports from the U.S. and countervailing duties of up to 179 percent on sugar from the EU.
“The anti-dumping duties are designed to reflect the difference between the prices at which exporters had been selling refined sugar in Canada and the prices in their home markets,” said the CITT. “The countervailing duties are intended to offset the subsidies provided to exporters in the EU.”
By Jan. 8, the tribunal will decide if hearings are warranted to hear evidence about why the duties should be lowered.
