Argentine Beekeepers' Magazine

(Espacio Apícola, March 11, 2022) At the request of two beekeeper associations, the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) initiated an investigation for alleged dumping of companies supplying honey from Argentina, Brazil , India, Ukraine and Vietnam (which account for about 90% of the honey that the United States imports...) on May 2021.

During the last 15 days, the DOC held "final" conversations on the Preliminary Determination of each country with the petitioners, except in the case of Vietnam, which has been long overdue. The DOC also had conversations by videoconference with the Argentine companies.

During the initial stage, the investigation of the Argentine companies generated the most exchange of documentation between the parties and with very extensive documents. After the Preliminary Determination, the exchange between the DOC and the Indian companies was significantly activated by a greater interpellation by the petitioners and, what broke all records, was the increase in documentation generated around the investigation of Vietnam, which is today the most numerous with 10 index pages (at 50 records per page) against 9 for Argentina and 7 for each of the rest of the countries.

Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on March 3rd the DOC suspended all actions and terms of the investigation for this country for 90 days. The same day "TOV Agro East Trade Ukraine", a company out of the investigation, sent a letter to the International Trade Commission (ITC) requesting that Ukraine and all its companies be excluded from the anti-dumping procedures. They points out in their letter that "As a consequence of the Russian bombing, our companies are being destroyed, the country's infrastructure is ruined, buildings and roads are burnt.// Our companies are under fire, our workers with their families and children are living now in basements." And after stating that, due to their inexperience, they have not been able to demonstrate that Ukraine does not sell its honey at a dumped price, as the Preliminary Determination set at 18.68%, they say: "The USA and the world help Ukraine consciously. We thank you for it but apart from weapons and humanitarian aid we also request you not to give us trade barriers. We do not ask for grants or money. We just request you not to create trade barriers.."

The DOC Final Determination for the companies of Argentina, Brazil, India and Vietnam are expected for April 8th, while the final decision of the ITC would be issued on May 23rd and by May 30th the respective orders would be processed.



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