California’s fresh tomato growers are hailing today’s ruling by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal that ends the investigation into dumping by US tomato growers in Canada.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
In its announcement this week, the Tribunal expressly found that the alleged dumping of fresh tomatoes by the US industry “has not caused material injury or retardation and is not threatening to cause material injury to the domestic industry.” Thus, the case initiated in 2001 against the US tomato industry by Canadian greenhouse growers is immediately terminated.
“We’re ready to put this dispute behind us and hit the ground running through the North American Tomato Trade Work Group (NATTWG) on issues that have an economic impact on growers in both Canada and the US,” said Ed Beckman, president of the California Tomato Commission. “US and Canadian growers have common concerns and we’re committed to working together through the Work Group to create a stable marketing environment in the US for all growers.”
The NATTWG was formed earlier this year by organisations representing growers in both Canada and the US to improve communication and prevent future trade disputes between the two major trading partners.
The ruling follows a request by Canadian growers to the Tribunal to terminate the trade action as being in the “best interests” of growers in both the US and Canada. The request to terminate was supported by the US industry and Canadian importers of US tomatoes.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataCanada is a major market for California’s fresh tomato industry. With sales of US$30m annually, mostly to restaurants who value the firmness of California’s tomatoes, Canada is the largest export market for California’s growers and shippers.
Since the filing of the trade action, Canadian businesses have posted hundreds of thousands of dollars in duties that were collected on US tomatoes imported to Canada.
Collection of duties ended today. The Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency will now refund those duties over the next 90 days.
The anti-dumping action was initiated against the US industry by Canadian greenhouse growers, who themselves, were the subject of an antidumping investigation launched by US greenhouse growers last year.
