For Immediate Release: January 19, 2006
Agreement in Principle on the Settlement
of the
Antidumping Duty Order on Gray Portland Cement from Mexico
The U.S. Government and the Government of Mexico have agreed in principle
to resolve a sixteen-year dispute over the Antidumping Duty Order on Gray
Portland Cement from Mexico. If the two governments are able to come to
final agreement, the major provisions would include the following:
- resolution of all outstanding litigation before the U.S. and international
courts;
- a limit of 3 million metric tons of Mexican cement to be distributed
regionally throughout the southern tier of the United States at an antidumping
duty of $3 per metric ton;
- a disaster provision of an additional 200,000 metric tons to be instituted
if the President determines that a natural disaster warrants an increase
in the import of Mexican cement;
- elements for mutual trade liberalization including general access
to the Mexican market;
- duration of three years;
- provisions which address the revocation of the antidumping duty order
at the conclusion of the agreement.
The U.S. Government and the Government of Mexico continue to meet in
the hope of concluding this agreement in the near future.
Background
- As a result of an antidumping petition filed by the Southern Tier
Cement Committee in 1989 and subsequent antidumping duty investigation
conducted by the Commerce Department, the Department found that Cemex,
Mexico's largest producer and exporter of cement, had been dumping its
product in the U.S. market.
- An antidumping duty order on gray portland cement from Mexico went
into effect on August 30, 1990.
- In the investigation and subsequent administrative reviews, Cemex
received margins ranging from 37.40 to 109.43 percent. Cemex's current
margin is 42.26 percent.
- Efforts have been made in the past to reach a settlement agreement
with regard to this ongoing trade dispute, but have not achieved the
forward progress that the two governments, along with their respective
industries have reached at this juncture.
- U.S. Cement Market Conditions: U.S. cement producers have a production
capacity of approximately 111 million metric tons (MMT). Through November
2005, the U.S. imported 1.77 million metric tons of Mexican cement.