The National Pork Producers Council says, in light of the incredible export opportunity resulting from reduced Chinese pork production due to African Swine Fever, the U.S. pork sector is anxious to see the restoration of more favorable access to that market for pork.
Last month representatives of the National Pork Producers Council testified before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture, outlining the numerous challenges the U.S. pork sector faces both abroad and domestically.
NPPC Senior Director of Communications Jim Monroe says the U.S. pork sector has expanded exponentially since entering its first free trade agreement in 1989 but recently it has been on the defensive with some of it’s most important export markets, including China but would prefer to be in an offensive posture negotiating new trade agreements.
The trade dispute has been going on for U.S. pork producers for over a year and, since the 50 percent punitive tariffs have been placed on U.S. pork on top of 12 percent duties, a 62 percent tariff, our American hog farmers have been losing eight dollars per hog or one billion dollars on an annualized basis.
China is the largest pork consuming nation in the world and that has really inhibited our exports in one of our most important export markets.
We’re eager to see an end to that trade dispute and the restoration of more favorable access, particularly now with the African Swine Fever situation in China and the significant drop in China’s domestic production, we have what is an unprecedented sales opportunity in China and we’re eager to fully participate in that.
~ Jim Monroe, National Pork Producers Council
Monroe says the United States is the most reliable source of pork, producing the highest quality, the safest, the most affordable pork in the world. He says pork producers are big believers in free trade, have worked hard to establish strong trading relationships with important export markets and want to maintain those relationships.
