January 15, 2016
CapitalPress.com
5
Mexico sets tariffs on
some apple exporters
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — Mex-
ico has imposed temporary
tariffs on U.S. apples based on
allegations of apple dumping
in 2013, but several industry
leaders say the impact proba-
bly won’t be too bad.
Companies with no tariff,
such as Yakima’s Washington
Fruit & Produce, may ship
more of its fruit to Mexico
opening the door for storms and companies such as his
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
to enter Idaho.
own with high tariffs may
This winter, a strong El ship less, said Mark Zirkle,
Following a wet Decem- Nino pattern — marked by president of Rainier and
ber throughout most of Idaho, ZDUP 3DFL¿F 2FHDQ ZDWHU Zirkle fruit companies, Selah.
climate experts say the state’s near the equator — has forced
The industry will probably
weather patterns have taken a storms to enter Idaho from still ship 9 million boxes of
dry turn in January.
the southwest, Abramovich apples to Mexico this season
December ended with said. He said Idaho also ben- which is in the normal range
strong snowpacks throughout H¿WHGIURPVWRUPV³VSLQQLQJ but down from the record 16
the Southern Idaho moun- out of the Northwest.”
million shipped there last year
tains, ranging from 160 to
The weather patterns from Washington’s largest
190 percent of normal. The shifted again to start Janu- crop, Zirkle said.
snowpack is especially deep ary, however. Abramovich
Tom Riggan, general
in the southwestern Bruneau said the majority of Idaho manager of Chelan Fresh
and Owyhee basins, which received just 20 to 30 per- Marketing, agreed 9 million
are coming off of consecutive cent of its normal snowpack boxes remains a reasonable
years of severe drought.
through Jan. 8. The notable expectation and said most
The snowpack was 135 exception to the recent dry companies are still seeking
percent of normal in the trend has been the Bear Riv- FODUL¿FDWLRQ RI ZKDW ZLOO EH
state’s west-central moun- er drainage, which received paid at the border. Mexico’s
tains, 125 to 140 percent of its normal January moisture Ministry of Economia sets
normal in the Salmon and GXULQJ WKH ¿UVW ZHHN RI WKH the duties but the Ministry
Big Wood drainages, slight- month, after being missed by of Agriculture determines
ly below normal in both the December storms.
what’s collected at the bor-
Northern Panhandle and East-
“The pattern appears to der, Riggan said.
ern Idaho’s Upper Snake Riv- be changing with more of
As of Jan. 10, Washington
er region and just 66 percent the storms down there now,” had shipped 2 million boxes
of normal in the Bear River Abramovich said. “It appears of apples to Mexico so far in
drainage near Stewart Dam.
we’re in a dry spell for a little this season compared with
Ron Abramovich, water bit.”
3.1 million at the same point
supply specialist with the
Jan. 15 marks the midpoint a year ago. Fewer Washing-
Natural Resources Conser- of the snow season. Though ton Red and Golden Deli-
vation Service, explained the extended forecast calls for cious apples and a stronger
during the past two winters, more dry weather, Abramov- dollar lessening Mexican
a pocket of warm ocean ich said the weather pattern importers’ buying power will
ZDWHU LQ WKH 1RUWK 3DFL¿F is active and he’s optimistic hurt exports more than the
forced the jet stream around storms will return.
tariffs, Riggan said. Zirkle
WKH 3DFL¿F 1RUWKZHVW FDXV-
In the Upper Snake, this agreed.
ing storms to track along the winter has been a return to
The tariffs are muted by
Continental Divide and blan- normal following two excep- three major shippers still be-
ket the Snake River head- tional winters, when the storm ing allowed to ship at zero
waters in Wyoming by the track inundated the system’s tariff, others at low tariffs
Idaho border. Late this fall, headwaters, despite largely and Washington has a small-
that pocket turned colder, bypassing Idaho.
er crop this year with a large
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Snow-capped mountains are visible from Bonneville Ridge in
Inkom, Idaho. Idaho’s snowpack is relatively strong, following a
wet December, but the weather has been drier to start January.
Idaho weather switches
from wet to dry
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Workers load Fuji apples onto trays for packing at Washington Fruit & Produce, Yakima, Wash., Dec.
8. Some Fuji and Gala go to Mexico, but mainly Red and Golden Delicious.
part of it already sold, said
Chris Schlect, president of
the Northwest Horticultural
Council in Yakima.
Heavy U.S. apple ship-
ments to Mexico traditional-
ly are from January through
April after the Mexican do-
mestic crop is mostly sold
out. Mexico is the largest
export market of U.S. apples.
Mexico announced the
tariffs Jan. 6 to take effect
Jan. 7 and remain in place un-
til its investigation of dump-
ing allegations is complete.
The Ministry of Economia
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evidence” that U.S. compa-
nies sold apples in Mexico at
discriminatory prices, damag-
ing Mexican apple producers,
according to a USDA GAIN
(Global Agricultural Informa-
tion Network) report of Jan. 7.
More than 40 Washing-
ton apple packers responded
to a Ministry of Economia
questionnaire a year ago and
12 were chosen for further
review to determine if they
would be assessed a duty.
Riggan said Chelan Fresh
Marketing was dropped from
the 12 that then became 11
and that he doesn’t know why.
According to the GAIN
report, the tariff on Zirkle
Fruit Co. is 20.82 percent.
The company is working to
get that lowered, Mark Zirkle
said.
The report lists: Broetje
Orchards, Prescott, at 17.22
percent; Stemilt Growers,
Wenatchee, at 10.14; Northern
Fruit, East Wenatchee, 9.45;
Chiawana, Yakima, 8.27;
Gilbert Orchards, Yakima,
7.39; Custom Apple Packers,
Wenatchee, 5.55; and Evans
Fruit, Cowiche, 2.44.
Washington Fruit & Pro-
duce, Yakima, Monson Fruit
Co., Selah, and CPC Interna-
tional Apple Co., Tieton, are
all listed at zero tariff.
Producer-exporters who
were among the 40 respond-
ing to the questionnaire but
not among the 12 audited are
at 7.55 percent and all others
who didn’t respond to the
questionnaire are at 20.82 per-
cent, Zirkle and Riggan said.
Companies with zero or
low tariffs cannot acquire fruit
from a company with high
tariffs and ship it to Mexico,
Zirkle said. “It has to be from
your own storage,” he said.
“With our prices already
high compared to last year
and our strong dollar, this will
slow exports to Mexico even
more. The question is how
much product still goes from
those at zero,” said Desmond
O’Rourke, a retired Washing-
ton State University agricul-
tural economist in Pullman.
Todd Fryhover, president
of the Washington Apple
Commission which promotes
exports, could not be reached
for comment.
Northwest Fruit Export-
ers, Yakima, which manag-
es export procedures for the
industry, issued a statement
saying it is evaluating next
steps, believes the anti-dump-
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is disappointed Mexico didn’t
terminate the investigation
and dismiss the petition.
El Nino conditions already weakening
tern, fed by a dominant sub-
tropical southern jet stream,
is typical for a strong El Nino
SACRAMENTO — As ro- winter, Mead said in an email.
bust storms continue to move But uncertainty is emerging
through California, El Nino as to whether the pattern will
FRQGLWLRQVLQWKH3DFL¿F2FHDQ remain for the entire winter,
are already starting to weaken, particularly for Northern Cal-
a National Weather Service ex- ifornia, she said.
pert says.
“The precipitation and
Sea surface temperatures snowpack for this winter are
LQ WKH HTXDWRULDO 3DFL¿F WKDW still going to be storm-by-
serve as a key fuel for the storm dependent,” Mead said.
weather phenomenon are “As we’ve stated before, even
starting to cool, although a an average winter will not save
strong El Nino is expected to XVIURPDIRXU\HDUGH¿FLW´
persist in the Northern Hemi-
Sea-surface and atmospher-
sphere through the winter, said ic conditions are expected to
Michelle Mead, a National return to neutral by late spring
Weather Service warning co- or early summer, marking an
ordinator.
end to the current El Nino.
The current weather pat-
The update comes as a
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
steady stream of storms have
been pelting California since
late fall, giving the Sierra Ne-
vada 103 percent of its normal
snowpack as of Jan. 11. Howev-
er, the mountains have still only
accumulated 45 percent of their
average snowpack for April 1,
according to the state Depart-
ment of Water Resources.
In addition, many areas are
struggling to maintain average
seasonal precipitation. For in-
stance, Redding has sopped
up 4.7 inches of rain for the
month as of Jan. 12, well
above its normal 2.2 inches for
the period, but its 14.57 inches
since Oct. 1 is slightly behind
its average of 15.05 inches, ac-
cording to the National Weath-
er Service.
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