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 Business News | February 2008 
Mexico Ups Sugar Exports After US Refinery Blast
 Mica Rosenberg - Reuters
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Mexico City - Mexico sugar producers said on Wednesday they plan to export 750,000 tonnes of sugar mostly to the United States over the next three months to fill demand after a blast destroyed a major U.S. sugar refinery.
The exports take advantage of new trade rules that lifted all barriers to free trade in sweeteners on Jan. 1 between Mexico and the United States, one of the last protected industries under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
U.S. sugar producers fear an increase in Mexican sugar imports will crush U.S. prices but Mexico says they can fill demand after last week's fire and explosion in a Georgia sugar refinery owned by Imperial Sugar (IPSU.O: Quote, Profile, Research).
"That refinery produced 900,000 tonnes of sugar a year, which the Mexican sugar industry can supply," Juan Cortina, the head of the country's sugar chamber, told a news conference.
"Over the next three months we will ship 750,000 tonnes, and the bulk of this sugar will go to the U.S. market to ensure there are no shortfalls there," he said.
Cortina said exports had already begun under the plan which the industry agreed to on Tuesday.
The head of the chamber, which represents the country's sugar refiners, said Mexico will have a surplus in the 2007/8 harvest of between 1 million and 1.2 million tonnes, all of which could be potentially exported.
U.S. sugar producers, fearing unlimited imports from Mexico, drafted a joint agreement with Mexican producers several weeks ago to control trade in sweeteners between the two countries, but the plan was rejected by both governments, said Cortina.
Mexico will produce between 5.4 million and 5.6 million tonnes of sugar in the 2007/8 harvest, said Cortina. The bulk is consumed by the local Mexican market. (Editing by Matthew Lewis) |
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