Nov 13, 2017NPC supports World Trade Organization ruling against Indonesia
The National Potato Council has issued a release in support of a recent World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that it said will increase potato exports to an important market.
“The National Potato Council applauds the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) victory in the WTO case against Indonesia’s restrictive import licensing scheme,” the release read, explaining that the ruling will increase potato exports and demonstrates the value of the WTO in fairly resolving trade disputes. “The potato industry appreciates the commitment by the USTR to initiate and successfully conclude this important case.”
Indonesia is ripe for growth regarding U.S. potato exports according to the NPC.
“Due to their illegal import licensing scheme, U.S. frozen potato exports to Indonesia amounted to only $18 million in 2016,” the group said, giving the smaller, neighboring market of Malaysia as a counter example. The NPC said despite its smaller size, since Malaysia has no restrictive import licensing requirements, shipments of similar potato products there exceeded $41 million in 2016.
“This is an important step in advancing the effort to have fair, balanced trade with our key trading partners,” said John Keeling, National Potato Council executive vice president. “As a result of the efforts of USTR and the final ruling by the WTO this week, we expect the trade restrictive Indonesian import licensing system will be dismantled and believe it will result in greater potato exports to the fourth most-populous country in the world.”
