Sales will need a few years to rebound, expert says

By MITCH LIES

Capital Press

Northwest Christmas tree growers were handed an early holiday gift last week with news Mexico has suspended its tariffs on U.S. Christmas trees.

"It's fantastic," said Bryan Ostlund, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association. "It's great to see the rule suspended."

"With margins as razor thin as they are in the industry, this can only help," said Jeff Stone, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries.

Mexico imposed a 20 percent tariff on U.S. Christmas trees in 2009 after U.S. officials discontinued a pilot program allowing Mexican trucks to transport goods in the U.S.

Oregon Christmas tree sales to Mexico plummeted from more than 1 million that year to less than 650,000 in 2010.

The decline was due in part to Mexico's implementation of tougher phytosanitary regulations, including zero-tolerance standards for pests such as yellow jackets, the Douglas fir twig weevil and slugs, Ostlund said.

Ostlund said the tariff suspension probably won't significantly affect 2011 Christmas tree sales.

"We are in the early-stages of harvest, so a lot of the buying and deals have already been struck," Ostlund said. "There will probably be some re-negotiations, but it won't be across the board."

"A little sooner would have been better, but now is definitely better than later," Hollie Spivey, president of the Christmas tree chapter of Oregon Association of Nurseries, said regarding the timing of the suspension. "We won't recoup much this year.

"It won't be until following the 2012 and even the 2013 harvests before the export quantities and export tree values climb back up to where they should be," she said.

Spivey said the value of exported trees dropped 45 percent in 2009, after Mexico imposed the tariffs.

"It's going to take time to bounce back," she said.