Mexico puts duties on US chicken

Mexico’s Ministry of Economy announced its resolution to an antidumping case involving chicken leg quarters imported to Mexico from the United States.

The case stems from an antidumping complaint filed by Producto Agropecuarios de Tehuacan, SA de CV, Buenaventura Grupo Pecuario, SA de CV and Bachoco, SA de CV.

Mexico began an investigation into allegations by three Mexican poultry companies that the US was exporting chicken leg quarters to Mexico at below-market prices. The investigation was based on the complainants’ assumption that chicken parts should be priced the same.

However, in August the Ministry of Economy confirmed that dumping had occurred and that the domestic poultry industry was harmed by the sale of chicken leg quarters into Mexico originating from the US that were below production costs. The Ministry will impose anti-dumping duties on imports of chicken leg quarters from the US. But penalties will not be applied immediately until the avian influenza outbreak normalises. The Ministry will announce the start date of the proposed duties via a public notice.