USA: Asemesa warns that the investigation against the Spanish olive question the EU aid system

In the framework of the anti-subsidy investigation against Spanish table olives, the US Department of Commerce has adopted the provisional decision to consider that the subsidies received by producers under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) constitute subsidies subject to compensatory measures that harm its American competitors. Thus, it has imposed a provisional antidumping duty of 4.47%.

For ASEMESA, this process calls into question “unfairly and arbitrarily” the totality of European agricultural support programs, seriously affecting all the beneficiaries of CAP subsidies, from wheat farmers in France to producers of Polish milk, explains Antonio de Mora, Secretary General of ASEMESA.

Antonio de Mora, Secretary General of ASEMESA has indicated that “beyond our disagreement, our concern also goes through the lack of proportionality that the Department of Commerce’s investigation is suffering from. The burden imposed by the Department of Commerce on the companies selected in the investigation and their olive suppliers in recent months is exceeding the limit of what is reasonable. These measures make us less competitive compared to other producing countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Turkey, which will not be affected by these measures and will be able to gain positions in the market”.

The companies selected for the research have been dedicated, during the last four months, to collect enormous amounts of information and to provide answers to extensive questionnaires, often arbitrary, in unreasonably short periods.

The preliminary measure of imposing a tariff on Spanish exports of table olives will come into force when it is published in the official US newsletter, in about a week.

The anti-dumping and anti-subsidy proceedings against the Spanish olive began on July 11, 2017. The final decisions will be adopted at the beginning of June 2018. The olive sector in the United States has yet to demonstrate that the imports of black olivesof Spanish table cause him a prejudice. This issue will be examined by a different agency, the United States International Trade Commission.

Source: Asemesa