Florida Citrus Growers Closer To Appealing ITC Decision
May 15, 2012 
The largest citrus grower organization in the U.S. has filed a summons with the U.S. Court of International Trade initiating an appeal of the International Trade Commission (ITC) decision to revoke the anti-dumping order against Brazilian orange juice processors.
“We continue to believe that the ITC made the wrong decision in this case for a number of reasons,” said Michael W. Sparks, executive VP/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. “There’s been extreme volatility in the marketplace since the revocation of the order providing clear proof that the order was doing what it was supposed to do – make the Brazilian processors play by the rules.”
“We will continue to consider our options to appeal and if necessary, we will file a new petition because we know the dumping isn’t going to stop.”
Some of the ITC’s findings that Mutual could challenge in an appeal include:
- Concluding there are significant supply constraints in Brazil
- Concluding the U.S. is not an attractive market for Brazilian juice
- Assuming tha tBrazil’s processing presence in the U.S. evens the trade playing field
- Ignoring the carbendazim issue’s affect on demand
- Relying almost exclusively on unsupported Brazilian pricing data
- Concluding that Brazilian imports do not affect on U.S. prices
- Focusing on grower revenue without considering increased costs
- Failing to properly consider the effects of revocation on growers
Since the Commission revoked the anti-dumping order on March 14 many of their assumptions have been severely undermined; OJ futures prices have declined by 40%, the effects of carbendazim have significantly reduced consumer demand and Brazilian shippers expect to have carbendazim-free concentrate back on the market in less than six months.
In addition, Brazilian production outstripped the Commission’s estimate by 7% for both the current season and next year. A week after the vote, the Brazilian industry reported anticipated inventories 4o% higher than predicted by the Commission.
An anti-dumping order covering the major Brazilian orange juice processors was put in place in 2006. Dumping is defined as selling product for less than “normal value,” including prices below the cost of production. It can severely harm domestic producers by subsidizing cheaper U.S. sales with higher priced foreign sales destabilizing world markets. If a domestic industry can prove foreign producers are dumping then anti-dumping deposits can be imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
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