Mexico Ruling on U.S. Potatoes Pt 2
I’m Bob Larson. Fresh U.S. potatoes could soon be headed to Mexico. This after Mexico’s Supreme Court’s ruling last week that gives its government the authority to allow the import of U.S. spuds, following obligations under the USMCA.
National Potato Council CEO, Kam Quarles says Mexico’s grower groups have pushed hard against U.S. potatoes …
QUARLES … “Countries can’t say, we’re going to shut of trade when competition gets too inconvenient. The point is that you want to provide consumers with a choice. You want to have that healthy competition in a variety of different goods.”
Quarles says it worked fine about 7 years ago when U.S. potatoes were allowed in for about 3 weeks …
QUARLES … “During those three weeks when the U.S. potatoes came into the market and the supply of potatoes, overall, increased, the market price of potatoes at retail dropped by almost 50%.”
But until now, Quarles says the potato group, CONPAPA has all but halted the process …
QUARLES … “The most recent action was due to the legal challenges. The cartel sued its own government. The government had basically given up the ghosts seven years ago. They had tried a number of different actions to keep the U.S. out. All of those had failed under international scrutiny.”
Listen tomorrow for more on the process and what still needs to happen for U.S. potatoes imports in Mexico.
