March 8, 2005

Letter to the Editor of the Chicago Tribune

To the Editor:

Your March 4 editorial “Here piggy, piggy,” contained a number of inaccuracies that must be addressed.

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Commerce reaffirmed its October 2004 decision that Canadian producers are dumping live hogs in the United States. Commerce announced that provisional antidumping duties averaging 10.63 percent will be placed on imports of live hogs from Canada.  The finding by the U.S. Department of Commerce that Canadians are dumping their live hogs into the U.S. is not surprising and is a result of the Canadian government’s generous subsidy programs.  When live hog prices are high, Canadian producers get a market reward, when live hog prices are low, Canadian producers are inoculated from losses through Canada’s farm income guarantee programs.  The numbers do not lie. Since April 1996,  the subsidies have fueled 35 straight quarters of year-over-year growth of the Canadian sow herd.  As a result of the increasing sow herd, Canadians are exporting their hogs to the U.S. in increasing numbers and at dumped prices. Meanwhile, over this same time period, the U.S. herd size declined by 11 percent.

Unfortunately, the editorial writers of the Chicago Tribune have apparently accepted propaganda provided to them by the Canadian interests without checking the facts. The article makes the bold claim that “domestic producers not only get protection from foreign competition, they get to cash in.”  U.S. pork producers are not seeking protection; they are seeking to get the Canadian government out of the hog market.  Iowa State University economist, Dermot Hayes, has estimated that Canadian hog farmers receive benefits ranging from $4 to $6/hog for the federal subsidy programs and that Quebec producers receive as much as $15/hog. It is clear from these numbers that the only producers cashing in are producers in Canada.  

The editorial suggests that U.S. pork producers have brought this action as a means to get the Byrd Amendment monies. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our objective is very simple – we want the federal and provincial governments of Canada to terminate their subsidy programs. U.S. pork producers are not seeking to close the border to live hog imports. We can compete with Canadian pork producers; we cannot compete with the Canadian government.

Sincerely,

Jon Caspers
Immediate Past President, National Pork Producers Council
Swaledale, Iowa

Read Chicago Tribune Editorial "HERE PIGGY, PIGGY"