The trend in export costs of products originating in Carmen 

 has been downward since 1953. Practically all of this drop in costs can 

 be traced directly to a decrease in total export taxes. Some of this 

 decrease results from devaluation, and some represents an actual peso 

 decrease in tax. 



Imports 



Mexico's imports of fishery products consist principally of 

 canned sardines and dried codfish. Most of the sardines come from 

 Portugal and the codfish from Norway. Shrimp imports are not shown 

 separately in Mexican official statistics, but they are insignificant. 



Mexico (summer 1955) has no import quotas or embargoes on 

 shrimp, but quotas or embargoes can be effected almost immediately by 

 executive action. 



Import duties and requirements 



The Mexican import duty on fresh or iced shrimp was 15 centavos 

 per gross kilogram plus a 15 percent ad valorem on the official evaluation 

 of 6.50 pesos per gross kilogram. This amounts to slightly over i; cents 

 per gross pound. 



The import duty on dry shrimp, salted shrimp, or canned shrimp 

 is 2 pesos per legal kilogram U3 / plus a k$ percent ad valorem on the 

 official evaluation of 12.70 pesos per legal kilogram. This is equiva- 

 lent to a duty of 62 cents per legal kilogram or about 28 cents per pound. 



h3/ The item "Fish and shellfish, all species, fresh or refrigerated" 

 is reported in gross kilograms. All other items are in legal kilograms. 

 Mexico uses three types of weights: 1. Net weight, which is the weight 

 of the product without container; 2. Legal weight, which is thfe weight 

 of the product including the immediate container, e.g.: the entire 

 weight of a can of sardines, including the can; 3. Gross weight, which 

 is the entire weight of the product including the ijiimediate and accessory 

 containers, e.g.: the entire weight of a case of sardines including the 

 case. 



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