Mexico–US begin poultry anti-dumping hearing

The US and Mexican poultry industries have begun meetings in an effort to resolve Mexico’s anti-dumping case against imports of US chicken leg quarters.

Representatives from both industries and their lawyers gathered in Mexico City this week for a rare conciliatory hearing called by the Mexican Unit of International Trade Practices (UPCI), part of the Mexican Secretariat of Economy (Economia).

Earlier this year, Industrias Bachoco – Mexico’s largest producer of poultry – and two smaller companies petitioned UPCI to begin an anti-dumping investigation of imports of chicken leg quarters from the US, claiming that US companies are exporting leg quarters to Mexico at below-market prices.

About 37 US poultry companies and trading companies joined the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USAPEEC) as participants in challenging Mexican industry’s claims of dumping.

Monday’s hearing marked the first face-to-face meeting for both sides since UPCI launched its investigation in February. Although Mexican trade law provides for such hearings as a mechanism for working toward resolution of trade disputes, they are rare. Mexico’s last conciliatory hearing more than a decade ago was also its first.

UPCI chief, Hugo Perezcano, presiding over the hearing told participants that the hearing is there for both sides to begin working toward a settlement.