On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 04:48:51 -0500, "Gordon Couger"
wrote:

First Torsten roasts us for supporting the price and then for not supporting
it enough. He can't have it both ways.

Huh? I am not roasting anyone. I am just telling you that a new study
has found that renegade USA is dumping agricultural commodities on
the world market in gross violation of WTO rules. All the while USA is
attacking Mexico for enacting anti-dumping tariffs on imports, in
compliance with WTO rules. Why would you feel roasted by an expose of
American double standards?

----------------------------

"The recently released report by the Institute for Agriculture and
Trade Policy says the dumping violates World Trade Organization rules
and hurts developing countries and U.S. producers.

"The dumping of commodities on international markets hurts farmers all
over the world, including U.S. farmers, by driv-ing down the
marketplace price," said institute president Mark Ritchie.
"There are international trade rules to address this problem. They
must be enforced."

In its study, the institute looked at the full cost of production in
the U.S. for wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton and rice between 1990 and
2001. The calculation included handling and transportation costs.
It then compared those costs with the price at which the commodities
were sold in international markets.

In all cases, the commodities were sold for substantially less than
the cost of production, which is one definition of export dumping.
The institute described some of the results as "shocking."

For wheat, the dumping margin averaged 29 percent, ranging from a low
of 18 percent in 1996 to a high of 44 percent in 2001.

That means that in 2001, U.S. wheat was sold for 44 percent less than
it cost to produce it.

Here's how the calculation was carried out, using 2001 as an example:
• The farmer's production costs were $5.31 US a bushel.
• The addition of 82 cents per bu. for handling and transportation and
10 cents in government support costs resulted in a production cost of
$6.24 a bu.
• The export price was $3.50 a bu.
• The difference between the production cost and the export price of
$2.74 a bu. ($6.24 less $3.50) represents 44 percent of the cost of
production.

The average dumping margin for soybeans has been more variable, but
averaged around 25 percent in the last few years. For corn, it has
been around 30 percent in recent years, for cotton well over 40
percent and for rice in the range of 20 percent.