Chile launches safeguard investigation into powdered milk, Gouda cheese

A sharp drop in the price of imported powdered milk and Gouda cheese has spurred Chile to launch a safeguard investigation.

Chile notified the Committee on Safeguards at the World Trade Organization on 8 March 2018 that it was investigating “the existence of distortions in the price of imported [milk powder and gouda cheese].

“With the available information it was determined that the serious damage that the industry is suffering has been due, on the one hand, to the fact that there has been a sharp drop in the prices of import, which has caused a great impact on the sales price and margins of Chilean producers and, on the other hand, the drastic increase in imports in recent years has generated a loss of sales volume and participation of market for national production,” stated the notification to the WTO (translated from Spanish).

“Therefore, it was established that sufficient evidence was presented to justify the initiation of the investigation in order to determine the application or not of a safeguard measure.”