Canadian wheat farmers and exporters will have to wait three more weeks
to find out if they’ll lose access to the lucrative market south of the
border.
The United States Trade Representative has delayed a decision on an
unfair trade complaint against the Canadian Wheat Board until Feb. 15.
The decision was to be issued Jan. 22.
The North Dakota Wheat Growers Commission wants the U.S. government to
put a $50-a-tonne tariff on imports of Canadian wheat. The tariff would
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apply to durum imports in excess of 300,000 tonnes annually. For other
wheats, the tariff would kick in at 500,000 tonnes.
The USTR said in a statement the delay will allow for a “thorough
review” of the substantial number of comments received from the public
about the case.
A spokesperson for the wheat growers commission said while he was
disappointed in the delay, he was confident that a more thorough study
of the facts will boost the chances of success.
“We’ll now have a couple more weeks to make our case and build support
for the remedies called for in the petition,” said commission
administrator Neal Fisher.
A CWB official said the agency doesn’t see the delay as a cause for
concern.
“We’re not reading anything into it,” said Justin Kohlman. “It would be
nice to have it over with, but we’re just as confident now as we were
this time last week.”
The USTR report was originally to be released Oct. 23, but was put off
to Jan. 22 in the wake of last fall’s terrorist attacks in the U.S.
Fisher said that at the recent annual convention of the U.S. National
Association of Wheat Growers, farmers from across the country passed a
resolution calling for strong government action, including the tariff
rate quotas, against unfair CWB practices.
The complaint also has the support of a number of politicians from
wheat growing states.
American wheat industry groups have told the review that the board’s
trading practices have cost U.S farmers at least $500 million annually
in lost revenues over the past five years.
They want the quotas to be imposed until the board’s trading practices
are changed through bilateral or international trade discussions.
The board denies the commission’s charges, saying its wheat sales to
the U.S. are based on quality and service and said studies by the U.S.
government have failed to turn up any evidence to support complaints
that the board engages in dumping or predatory pricing in overseas
markets.
This investigation marks the ninth time in the past decade that the
Canadian board has been subjected to an investigation by one U.S.
government agency or another. Each time, the board has been cleared of
any significant wrongdoing.
