Farm-Scape, Episode 1596

A national swine industry reference committee has agreed to a common defense against American allegations that illegally subsidized Canadian hogs being dumped into the US are hurting US producers.

Petitions filed with the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission this past spring on behalf of US pork producers accused the Canadian industry of dumping illegally subsidized hogs into the US depressing US prices.

Manitoba, which initially took the lead in defending against the allegations, has already spent over three million dollars in legal and accounting fees in defending the Canadian position. Manitoba Pork Council Chair Karl Kynoch says, with the countervail case essentially concluded, the priority now is the antidumping investigation.

"We've pretty much won the countervail side but we're still fighting on the antidumping side and Canada, I can now say, is back on a united front on the defense of this trade injury.

There's actually some funding from across Canada and, when we get into this final injury defense, we've more or less agreed on a defense and we'll be moving forward as one group. We can't say very much due to jeopardizing our case but lawyers in Ontario and Manitoba are now working together and all the provinces are working together to have a united defense of this trade injury.

Right now we're well into the investigation on that and we're building a very strong case to defend our industry with the final injury. "

The next step in the countervail investigation will be the verification of the information that led to the commerce department's preliminary determination that Canadian hogs are not illegally subsidized.

The US International Trade Commission is expected to issue its determination on whether the imported Canadian hogs are harming US producers by the middle of next month. If the ITC determines there is no injury, the case will be discontinued.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.