News

China agrees to resume U.S. pork imports

China has agreed to resume U.S. pork imports.  Officials say pork trade will resume immediately once both sides finalize the export documentation. 

The announcement follows months of negotiations between U.S. and Chinese officials.  China had agreed in principle to remove the ban on U.S. products last fall.  The U.S. has repeatedly stressed the need for China to remove all restrictions on trade in pork products related to the H1N1 virus.

 “This is great news for U.S. pork producers,” said National Pork Producers Council president Sam Carney, a pork producer from Adair, Iowa. “China is one of our biggest markets, so being able to ship pork there is extremely important to the U.S. pork industry, which has been hurting economically for more than two years now. 

“With the lifting of the H1N1 ban on U.S. pork, we will focus on the remaining impediments to exporting U.S. pork to China,” Carney said.  Among those issues are China’s ban on U.S. pork produced with ractopamine, an FDA-approved feed additive. Other issues, Carney says, include subsidies China provides to its domestic pork producers and a value-added tax it imposes on imports. 

Meatingplace.com reports that, while the news is good, pork industry analysts are cautioning that China’s current pork import needs might not match 2008 levels.  At that time, China was hosting the Olympics and its hog herds were reduced by disease and severe weather.  Since then, China has rapidly rebuilt its hog herd. 

According to NPPC, the U.S. pork industry shipped nearly 400,000 metric tons of pork worth nearly $690 million to China/Hong Kong in 2008, making it the number 3 destination for U.S. pork. Last year, U.S. pork exports to China/Hong Kong were down by 38 percent, falling to just under $427 million. 

 Link to news release on USTR web site