The U.S. Department of Commerce announced July 24 that Mexican tomatoes are being dumped in the United States in a “post-preliminary determination,” according to Dante Galeazzi. This preliminary position is that the average dumping margin is 25.28 percent.Dante Galeazzi

Florida Tomato Exchange on July 24 said, “This announcement refutes the recent Mexican claims that the data they submitted to the DOC would prove that Mexican tomatoes are not being dumped into the U.S. market. Evidence that the Mexicans are dumping is not surprising news to domestic tomato growers who compete every day against unfairly traded Mexican imports.”

But Galeazzi, who is president and chief executive officer of the Texas International Produce Association, stressed that the DOC announcement is just one step in a process of weighing Mexican tomato imports into the United States.

The 25.28 percent dumping margin is the result of a first look by DOC, Galeazzi said. But now DOC officials will be meeting with representatives of the Mexican tomato industry and the Florida Tomato Exchange to discuss both sides.

In the meantime, Galeazzi said the 17.56 percent duty on Mexican tomato imports remains in place. The industry will hold that duty level until the DOC makes its final estimation of Mexican import dumping, if any; and then the big final step will be turning that data over to the U.S. International Trade Commission for another appraisal.

“The U.S. tomato industry looks forward to showing the U.S. International Trade Commission that it has been injured by the surging unfairly traded Mexican imports," said the Florida Tomato Exchange. "Since 1994, according to USDA, tomato imports have flooded the U.S., increasing from just 20 percent of the market in 1994 to 60 percent by 2017. Mexican tomatoes account for 90 percent of these imports. Meanwhile, the U.S. market share for American farmers has fallen from 80 percent to 40 percent as hundreds of growers have gone out of business.”

Galeazzi said, “It’s still too early to be concerned” about DOC findings. “We’re early on in the investigation. The DOC will review both sides,” he reiterated.

The ITC decision will be critical in determining what the final duty level may be for Mexican tomatoes, Galeazzi said.