Mexican tomato producers had until May 22 to present a formal proposal to the US Department of Commerce to reach an agreement on tomato trade between Mexico and the United States, after the agreement to suspend the dumping investigation on Mexican tomatoes came to an end on May 7th.
The Mexican Association of Protected Horticulture (AMHPAC), the Confederation of Agricultural Associations of the State of Sinaloa (CAADES), the Agricultural Council of Baja California (CABC), the National Tomato Product System (SPTN) and the Association of Vegetable Producers of Yaqui-Mayo (APHYM) presented the proposal on a timely manner.
The new proposal includes new reference prices with increases of up to 180 percent for an extended category of tomatoes, stated the creators of the proposal.
The tomatoes that do not comply with the marketing order would be denied entry to the US market, where one out of every two vegetables are of Mexican origin.
The new agreement also proposes eliminating 100 percent of the defective product from the United States market by returning it to Mexico, after surpassing a certain threshold and destruction supervised by the Department of Agriculture.
Mexico's tomato sector expects that this new proposal, which has more guarantees and is solider than the previous one, allows them to reach a successful agreement with the US that ends the suspension.
Source: Notimex