[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 75 (Monday, May 24, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S5880]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SECTION 201 PETITION FOR THE LAMB INDUSTRY

 Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I rise today to bring to everyone's 
attention the issue of lamb imports. These imports are being sold well 
below the price of identical domestic products and have created a slow 
motion, chain reaction collapse of the lamb market that continues 
through this day.
  This nation's lamb industry suffers not only from the unprecedented 
surge of imports that have flooded the domestic marketplace. It suffers 
not only from the skyrocketing, record-setting levels that now dominate 
one-third of all lamb consumed in the United States.
  This industry also suffers from severe and consistent price 
undercutting by importers.
  Evidence of the price disparity can be found in the report prepared 
by the U.S. International Trade Commission. The Commission made dozens 
of product-to-product comparisons. In 8 out of 10 comparisons, the 
Commission found imports undercutting domestic products by margins of 
20 percent to 40 percent.
  Other comparisons have found disparities reaching as high as 70 
percent. This gulf is directly related to global economic conditions. 
In Asia, the widespread economic crash left traditional buyers unable 
to pay for new shipments of lamb meat from Australia and New Zealand--
those products had to go somewhere.
  It couldn't go to the European market. The European Union has 
absolute quotas in place to govern the amount of lamb imports into that 
market.
  Instead, it came here, to the United States market. It came to a 
market that stands open and unprotected. To a market where the 
government has done nothing, absolutely nothing, to protect its own 
domestic industries from devastating surges of imports.
  That surge began what amounts to a slow-motion crash of the domestic 
lamb market in the fall on 1997. Packers and processors with lamb to 
sell suddenly lost account after account to the cheaper imports. Losing 
money by the day, they had none to pay to their own suppliers and the 
lamb feeder level.
  And so it went, with domestic producers hoping the surge would slow 
of its own accord. Hoping the importers would realize the devastation 
they'd wrought. Hoping they could stay in business long enough to 
finish upgrading equipment, or solidifying alliances--to become more 
competitive.
  But the onslaught from imports was relentless. From the processors 
and packers to the feeders, the domestic market crash now reaches all 
the way to farms and ranches that have stood for generations--an entire 
industry teeters on the edge of financial ruin.
  Last fall, some producers with sheep to sell couldn't find a single 
buyer. For the second Easter/Passover season in a row, the market's 
traditional high point and the largest holiday marketing period of the 
year--live lambs were selling in the 60-cent per pound range. Few 
producers in the country can remain in business at those prices.
  Let me add my voice to those urging the President to fashion strong, 
effective import relief for the U.S. lamb industry. This relief must do 
two things, curb this unprecedented surge of imports and level the 
playing field.

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