Potato industry expecting trade decision
British Columbia anti-dumping duties may be lifted
COLUMBIA BASIN — The state's potato growers aren't using the backs of their chairs very much today.
They're on the edge of their seats awaiting word of the decision, expected today, made by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal regarding anti-dumping duties of potatoes in British Columbia.
"I would say it's very closely being looked at," said Matt Harris, Washington State Potato Commission director of trade. "Growers want to know, sheds want to know: Are they going to continue dumping duties or are they finally going to drop them?"
The decision stands to end a years-long battle on the part of the Washington potato industry to see the duties lifted in British Columbia, with representatives arguing that the duties, which have been in place for 21 years, are having an adverse impact on sales of potatoes into the Canadian province.
Several representatives of the Washington potato industry spoke before the tribunal in July.
"We did give a good, solid case, and I'm hopeful that the CITT is going to take all of that information," Harris said.
Harris noted that the British Columbia growers wanted red, yellow and specialty potatoes exempt from the duties at the hearing. Those exemptions would be welcome, he said.
"Growers who do grow yellows, reds and specialty potatoes, that's still an opening to the market to where growers are not inflicted with dumping duties," he said, adding that at the tribunal, the state made the example that western Washington growers have been able to market their potatoes above the British Columbia floor price and maintain a profitable position. "Being in the same general sense as the British Columbia growers, we can hopefully show to them that there is market for them."
Harris added that the voluntary group United Growers of America, including chapters in Washington, Oregon and in Idaho, has had a "great" impact on the industry by managing the supply chain — managing the number of potatoes that go to market and limiting the supply so that prices do not drop — and making effort to communicate between the states as well as potato sheds.
Recent Canadian Border Services Agency reports have shown that there have not been any dumping duties placed on Washington potatoes.
"We've kept our price higher than their floor price for dumping duties, which is good news," Harris said, again attributing the success to United Growers. "We will await the (CITT) decision and hopefully we'll have some good news to give back to the industry about their decision."
As soon as any word is passed down, attorneys will inform the WSPC, which will in turn make a decision about reaction and the next step, Harris said.
The CITT could keep the entirety of the dumping duties in place for British Columbia growers, Harris said, or listen to the growers and exempt red, yellow and specialty potatoes from the duties, or find that the duties are not valid, which has been the state's case.
"(They could find) that to constitute a free market, they need to drop that floor on the potatoes," he said. "Hopefully, the information that we presented will overwhelmingly prove that this is a free market."