Meat+Poultry - August 2019 - 18

WA S H I N G T O N

Producer pressures
A hearing on Capitol Hill represented
an opportunity for stakeholders in
the meat and poultry industries to
detail for lawmakers the challenges
facing producers - diminished export
markets, labor shortages and animal
disease topped the list of witness
testimony given July 16 before
members of the House Livestock and
Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee.
David Herring, president of the
National Pork Producers Council
(NPPC), spoke to the subcommittee
members about challenges at home
and abroad that weigh on the pork
industry despite significant growth.
He noted that pork "...is an attractive
candidate for trade retaliation"
because of the US pork industry's
position as the leading global exporter.
And while Mexico lifted tariffs on
pork in response to the United States
lifting tariffs on metal, the US trade
war with China has become the most
damaging threat.
"China holds more potential than
any other market in the world for
increased US pork sales," Herring
said. "There is an unprecedented sales
opportunity for US pork producers
in China as that country continues
to battle the spread of ASF and
experiences a major reduction in
domestic production."

Estimates of losses to China's
swineherd due to African Swine Fever
range from 25 percent to 35 percent -
while extreme losses of more than 50
percent are expected to be limited to
confined areas. In April, concerns about
the spread of ASF prompted NPPC to
cancel World Pork Expo. US producers
would have been the most likely
candidate to fill China's supply gap.
"Were it not for the retaliatory
duties on US pork, we would be in
an ideal position to meet China's
need for increased pork imports and
single handedly put a huge dent in
the US trade imbalance with China
too," Herring said. "Instead, this trade
opportunity is fueling jobs, profits and
rural development for our competitors.
We seek an end to the trade dispute
with China and the restoration of more
favorable access to the world's largest
pork-consuming nation."
Herring added that the European
Union and other countries that
signed on to the Comprehensive and
Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership
(CPTPP) continue to make inroads
in Japan's market for pork. Herring
warned that "We are going to continue
to hemorrhage market share unless we
quickly get the same market access our
competitors have in Japan."
Producers in the pork and beef
industries also called on Congress to
ratify the US-Mexico-Canada trade
agreement (USMCA).

"Mexico and Canada, combined,
buy $2 billion in US beef products every
single year. That's nearly a quarter
of all US beef exports each year and
accounts for $69 of those $300 realized
by US producers as a result of trade,"
said Kelley Sullivan Georgiades, a
cattle producer from Crockett and
Navasota, Texas, representing the
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers
Association at the hearing. "USMCA
keeps the good aspects of NAFTA -
unrestricted, duty-free access for US
beef and cattle - and does not attempt
to incorporate failed policies from
the past, like mandatory country of
origin labeling.
"Failure to maintain free trade
with Mexico and Canada would be
devastating to cattle producers, and it
has also left other trade breakthroughs
pending," Georgiades said.
Concerns were also raised about
animal diseases such as ASF and highly
pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
Herring told the subcommittee the
NPPC is advocating for strengthened
biosecurity at US borders, including
funding for an additional 600 US
Customs and Border Protection
Agricultural Inspectors.
"The most likely path for a foreign
animal disease to enter the country
would be through the importation
of infected animals or contaminated
products," Herring said.
E R I C A S H A FFE R | e s h a f f e r @s o s l a n d.c o m

- KELLEY SULLIVAN GEORGIADES

18

MEAT+ POULTRY | 08.19 | www.meatpoultry.com

Gary Blakeley/Shutterstock.com

"Failure to maintain free trade with Mexico
and Canada would be devastating to cattle
producers, and it has also left other trade
breakthroughs pending."
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Meat+Poultry - August 2019

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