ASI Pursuing Legal Action
Against Rising Lamb Imports

DENVER, Colo. — Fed up with the escalating practice by foreign countries of using the U.S. market as a relief valve for excess lamb product, the American Sheep Industry Association announced this week that it had begun pursuing legal remedies.

"Lamb imports, primarily those from Australia and New Zealand, have quadrupled over the past three years to comprise one-third of all lamb currently available in the United States," said ASI president Lorin Moench Jr., a Utah sheep producer.

ASI expects to file a so-called "201" trade petition on or around Sept. 15. They have requested the support and active role of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

Moench said the combination of the Asian financial crisis, currency devaluation and lack of existing trade measures to prevent the market from being flooded have allowed a deluge of foreign lamb into the U.S. The domestic market was decimated all winter, he said, with slaughter lamb prices hitting a four-year low at Easter and stocks in cold storage hitting a record high level not seen since 1972.

"Our goal is to provide the U.S. lamb industry with temporary relief," Moench said. "A successful 201 case would provide several years’ worth of quotas or tariffs that would allow lamb imports into the United States, yet prevent them from flooding our market."

And the flooding of the American lamb market with foreign product is readily apparent, ASI charges. In May, USDA announced it would purchase $8 million of American lamb products to strengthen the U.S. lamb market. In June, it announced the primary product to be purchased was boneless lamb legs. Within days, New Zealand lamb exporters began diverting that very same cut from their European markets to the United States.

"The New Zealand actions could be viewed as intentional undermining of a federal commodity purchase program," said ASI Executive Director Peter Orwick.

Orwick said he is confident a 201 action would help stabilize the lamb market, which has incurred a $30 drop in lamb carcass prices since June. He added it also would provide additional time to implement other pro-industry initiatives such as the work being done by the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center and the Sheep Industry Transition Team.