Agreement in Principle on the Settlement of the Antidumping Duty Order on Gray Portland Cement from Mexico

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.