Port of Houston Gravely Concerned by Dingell Bill

Speaking exclusively to Coffee & Cocoa International (C&CI) about the Dingell Bill (HR 3610), James T Edmonds, Chairman of the Port of Houston Authority, has expressed serious concerns about the effects that the Bill, as currently written, might have on the port.

Said Mr Edmonds: 摀The Port of Houston Authority and our customers are gravely concerned about the impacts of this provision on importing food products, including coffee, into the Port of Houston. The Port of Houston is the fastest growing coffee port in America and to lose the momentum we have built since 2001 would be devastating to our market. The Port Authority appreciates the efforts of Congressman Gene Green to work with Chairman Dingell to remove this provision from the Chairman抯 import safety bill.?/P>

As already reported on this web site, and in the forthcoming January 2008 issue of C&CI, representatives of the coffee industry in the US have expressed concern that the Bill, which is currently being debated, could add millions of Dollars to the cost of shipping coffee imported into the US.

Introduced by Representative John D Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, along with Representatives Frank Pallone (D-MI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, and Bart Stupak (D-MI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, HR 3610 is intended to dramatically improve the system used to ensure the safety of food and drugs imported into the US.

Although supportive of such intentions, the National Coffee Association (NCA) in the US has raised a number of concerns about some sections of the Bill, which, it believes, will dramatically increase the cost of importing coffee ?and other foodstuffs ?into the US.

At the heart of the proposed Bill is a plan to create a 憉ser fee?on imported food and drug shipments. Funds generated by the fee would be used to hire additional personnel to perform inspections at the US border, and create inspection stations at key ports, but not at all ports that import coffee. Those without the inspection facilities would not longer be allowed to import foodstuffs.

However, says Robert Nelson, executive director of the NCA, it is just these proposed measures ?including limiting the number of ports through which food can be imported, and requiring country of origin labeling ?that will cause problems for the coffee industry, driving up transportation costs, and, potentially, endangering the livelihoods of coffee growers in Central America.

Source:RamblerNews