U.S. AGENCY RULES AGAINST BRAZIL ORANGE JUICE
The U.S. International Trade
Commission, ITC, voted to authorize the Commerce Department to
impose anti-dumping duties on imports of Brazilian frozen
concentrated orange juice.
    The ITC voted 3-2 in favor of the anti-dumping petition in
its final ruling on the matter.
    Today's ITC ruling was consistent with the Commerce
Department's final ruling of March 9, and activates an
anti-dumping duty of 1.96 pct on imports of Brazilian frozen
concentrated orange juice, Stephen Vastagh, ITC investigator
said.
    The ITC found that Brazilian orange juice imports have
injured U.S. producers. The Commerce Department had already
ruled that the imports were unfairly priced, and lowered to
1.96 pct the anti-dumping margin that in a preliminary decision
last fall had been set at 8.5 pct, Vastagh said.
    The U.S. government has been requiring bond to be posted on
imports of Brazilian frozen concentrated orange juice since
Commerce's preliminary ruling of last October 23, he said.
    Commerce had ruled that one major Brazilian producer --
Cutrale -- would be excluded from the anti-dumping duty.
    Brazilian imports account for about 40 pct of total U.S.
supply, Vastagh said. Between December 1985 and November 1986,
the United States imported the equivalent of 546 mln gallons of
Brazilian orange juice worth 622 mln dlrs, he said.
    Currently, the United States requires a 35-cent per gallon
tariff on orange juice imports, Vastagh said.
    An ITC spokesman said the agency would forward its final
report on the anti-dumping case to Commerce by April 22.
    Commerce then will process the anti-dumping order and
transmit it to U.S Customs, which will liquidate bond entries
dating from Commerce's preliminary ruling and begin assessing
duties, Vastagh said.
    He said about 12 Brazilian orange juice exporters,
including three major shippers, would be affected by the
decision.
 Reuter
