Mexico to Keep HFCS Duties For Now

March 1, 2000

Mexico will keep punitive duties on U.S. exports of high fructose corn syrup while it reassesses how much damage the shipments do to the Mexican sugar industry, REUTERS reports.

"We decided with the U.S. not to appeal, we are going to calculate the damage again...meanwhile the duties remain,'' Trade Minister Herminio Blanco told REUTERS.

Some U.S. sources had expected Mexico to lift the duties after losing important portions of a World Trade Organization panel decision. The long-running dispute involves both U.S. exports of HFCS and Mexican exports of sugar to the United States. On October 1, Mexico will be entitled to export 250,000 tons of sugar into the U.S. market, a tenfold increase in its access.