Exclusive: China accepts Brazil chicken exporters' offer to end anti-dumping case

By Ana Mano and Jake Spring

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Commerce has accepted an offer made by Brazilian chicken exporters to resolve a dumping dispute, a lawyer told Reuters on Monday, lifting shares of Brazil-based chicken exporter BRF SA.

Claudia Marques, a partner at MPA Trade Law who represents the Brazilian exporters, said China's decision to accept Brazil's "price undertaking" offer was communicated to the parties in the Ministry of Commerce's "disclosure report."

The agreement, which sets minimum prices for sales to China to end a dumping probe that started in August 2017, will take effect by Feb. 18, Marques said, a date marking the end of formal proceedings.

Shares in BRF, the world's largest chicken exporter, rose 1.8 percent to 24.49 reais, a more than six-month high, after trading flat before Reuters reported the dumping case had been resolved.

According to a preliminary ruling against white broiler poultry imports from Brazil, China determined in June 2018 that importers of Brazilian chicken provide a dumping deposit ranging between 18.8 percent and 38.4 percent.

In an effort to resolve the matter, Brazilian chicken exporters formalized the proposal to set minimum export prices for sales into China last month.

Under the terms of the offer, the exporter commits to selling to China at prices not lower than what was agreed, a process known as price undertaking.

The World Trade Organization defines price undertaking as the effort "to raise the export price of the product to avoid the possibility of an anti-dumping duty."

Brazilian meat group ABPA said it has not yet had access to the Ministry of Commerce's final decision on the companies' price undertaking offer.

(Reporting by Ana Mano in São Paulo and Jake Spring in Brasília; Editing by Christian Plumb and Sandra Maler)