SACRAMENTO, CA - The Olive Growers Council of California (OGCC), on behalf of the CA table olive industry, applauded the 4-0 vote by the International Trade Commission (ITC) affirming that the antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders first imposed on Spanish ripe olives in 2018 must remain in place.
“The U.S. Government and court systems have repeatedly confirmed over the last five years that the Spanish industry is still benefiting from unfair European Union (EU) subsidies and is still dumping its ripe olives in the U.S. market,” said Michael Silveira, Chairman. “If it weren't for the U.S. Government's ongoing AD/CVD orders on Spanish olives, American table olive production, and hundreds of family farmers and allied jobs would be in serious jeopardy.”
According to a press release, the ITC’s determination was based on its findings that a revocation of the olive AD/CVD orders is reasonably likely to lead to a continuation or recurrence of material injury to the California ripe olive industry.
The ruling follows a companion determination issued by the Department of Commerce in late 2023 finding that a revocation of the AD and CVD olive orders would lead to a recurrence of dumping margins as high as 25.5 percent and CVD margins as high as 13.9 percent. These decisions were made in the context of the five-year “Sunset Review” procedures required under United States trade law and, because of the affirmative rulings, now extend the olive AD/CVD orders for another five years. The Musco Family Olive Company successfully litigated these proceedings on behalf of the California-based ripe olive industry.
After the U.S. issued its olive AD/CVD orders in 2018, the EU has worked to overturn the olive orders by challenging them in the WTO and politically pressuring the U.S. Government to terminate the olive tariffs.
“The EU and Spanish interests want the US Government to overturn U.S. trade law to allow the Spanish industry to go back to selling its dumped and subsidized olive prices with no consequences,” Silveira said. “That would only reinforce the EU's protectionist agricultural policies and, by eroding trade enforcement, would undermine American-grown production and U.S. food security.”
The U.S. Government’s AD/CVD orders on Spanish olives have given California olive farmers the time they need to reinvest in modern farming techniques.
We will keep you informed as we learn more about the circumstances of this ruling.
