The European farmers’ and agri-cooperatives organisations Copa and Cogeca said on Tuesday 25 July that they had written to the European Commission protesting about United States’ plans to impose anti-dumping measures on imports of Spanish black table olives.
In a press release, Copa and Cogeca Secretary General Pekka Pesonen urged the Commission to take the matter seriously as any such action would put thousands of jobs in Spain in jeopardy and deepen the economic crisis there. Pesonen said: “Copa and Cogeca consider it unacceptable that the main EU agri-food export market – the USA – can impose protectionist measures against our products without justification”.
He warned that action such as this “could set a dangerous precedent for other production sectors and other EU trade partners and prevents USA consumers from enjoying our quality produce at affordable prices”.
In mid-July, the US Department of Commerce opened an investigation into imports into the USA of table olives from Spain, on the grounds that the olives are undercutting domestic production and amount to unfair competition as Spanish producers receive aid under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The US administration is planning to impose the measures against the imports as early on as September, even before the investigation led by the Department of Commerce is concluded.
That Spanish producers can produce black table olives so competitively is due to their efforts to reduce production costs, combined with investment in key issues like quality technology, Copa and Cogeca argue. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)