News Release

            FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                CONTACT:    Audrae Erickson

            August 20, 2004                                                                                   (202) 331-1634

SENATOR GRASSLEY CALLS FOR ‘EVERY AVAILABLE AVENUE’ TO RESOLVE MEXICO SWEETENER DISPUTE

WASHINGTON, DC – The Corn Refiners Association today applauded the strong commitment of Senator Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to bring a quick end to the soda tax in Mexico that discriminates against High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).

In letters to Ambassador Zoellick and the Mexican Sugar Chamber, Chairman Grassley expressed his commitment to pursue “every available avenue to see that this tax is removed.”  He pledged to “actively defend [U.S.] rights concerning HFCS” and also called for expedited dispute settlement proceedings in the World Trade Organization on the discriminatory tax. 

“Mexico has employed several measures over the past eight years to shield its domestic sugar industry from competition with HFCS,” said Audrae Erickson, president of the Corn Refiners Association.  “We appreciate Chairman Grassley’s tireless efforts to pursue ‘every available avenue’ to restore the supply of U.S. HFCS interests in the Mexican market.” 

The tax, first enacted by Mexico in January 2002, has caused significant investment and job losses to U.S. companies that made substantial investments in Mexican and U.S. HFCS capacity.  It also has shut down U.S. exports of HFCS to Mexico for nearly three years.  Mexico is an estimated two million metric ton market for U.S. exports of HFCS, making it the top export market prior to the tax.  In 1997, Mexico initiated an antidumping investigation, which was later found to be in violation of both NAFTA and WTO rules, on U.S. exports of HFCS to its market.  Mexico removed the antidumping duties in late 2001 and then implemented the soda tax.

For every 2 million metric tons of HFCS access into Mexico, the U.S. corn industry has lost: $620 million annual HFCS export sales; more than $300 million annual corn sales; 133 million bushels of bulk corn production; 945.7 thousand acres of corn production; and additional losses to seed, fertilizer and farm machinery industries and related rural investment. 

Read Chairman Grassley’s letter to USTR Robert Zoellick

Read Chairman Grassley's letter to the Mexican Sugar Chamber

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