09/23/05 Anti-dumping duties remain

It didn't take long at all for the U.S. International Trade Commission to reach a decision, and an unanimous one at that. Originally expected to decide by the end of the month whether or not to continue for another five years anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese apple juice concentrate coming into the U.S., the I.T.C. took only days to concur with a U.S. Commerce Department ruling that lifting the duties would be detrimental to the U.S. apple juice industry. Prior to the ruling, Shannon Schaffer of the U.S. Apple Association expressed faith that indeed the tariffs would remain in place. SCHAFFER: We put forth a very strong case that showed the damage that had been done to the U.S. concentrate industry in the past by these unfair pricing practices, and we believe that the International Trade Commission is going to see that and agree that there is a great risk of harm to the U.S. industry. What Schaffer and other apple industry insiders successfully pointed out was that even during the first round of anti-dumping duties in place since 2001, six U.S. apple juice concentrate producers were put out of business as result of low cost Chinese apple juice concentrate. That has left only Tree Top of Washington and Naumes of Oregon remaining to complete. But Schaffer adds that the same arguments will need to be made when repeal of the anti-dumping tariffs come under consideration once again. SCHAFFER: We will need to defend this duty again  revisit the issue and make sure that the situation hasn't changed in 2010.