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Nebraskans will lobby Chinese to resume beef purchases

Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts says he will encourage Chinese officials to resume purchases of U.S. beef when he leads a Nebraska trade delegation to China next week.

“(Chinese) premier Li, as you know, said earlier this year that he was going to be opening up (beef imports), and we’re expecting he’s going to be as good as his word and that will happen,” Ricketts says. “We don’t have a timetable for that right now, but we will continue to talk to the Chinese about the importance of opening up that market.”

In late September, China announced that it was lifting its 13-year ban on imports of U.S. beef, but those purchases have yet to resume.

Nebraska ag director Greg Ibach, who will also be part of the trade mission, says the potential is huge.

“When we met with the largest meat importer to China, they felt that China could represent a volume equivalent to what Japan represents right now, in a very rapid fashion,” Ibach says.

The trade mission runs November 9th through the 15th.