Although they are unlikely to top 2008’s record amount of $4.9 billion, exports of U.S. pork were expected to grow in 2010 to their second highest level ever. The
National Pork Producers Council helped U.S. producers reach that level by working to keep existing foreign markets open and to open new markets to U.S. pork.
Through October – the latest month for which data existed at press time – pork exports were nearly $3.9 billion and were on track to be around $4.5 billion for the year. That would be more than 2009’s $4.3 billion but less than 2008’s total. That translates to more than $56 for each hog marketed, a significant amount given that producers, on average, made only $12 a head for the year.
South Korea – NPPC agreed to a compromise on pork to resolve a dispute on auto trade between the United States and South Korea that paves the way for a final free trade agreement between the countries. [A vote by Congress on the FTA is expected to come some time this year.] At NPPC’s insistence, the United States had negotiated in the agreement that was signed June 30, 2007, a zero tariff rate on most pork products going into South Korea effective Jan. 1, 2014, the same date Chile’s pork and 30 months before the European Union’s goes to a zero duty. Chile has an FTA with South Korea that was implemented in 2004; the EU’s agreement is expected to be in force July 1, 2011. The U.S.-South Korea FTA had been held up mostly because of issues related to trade in beef and automobiles. The logjam was broken when U.S. pork producers agreed to move back the effective date on the zero tariff rate on some cuts of pork to Jan. 1, 2016. The FTA would be one of the most lucrative for the U.S. pork
industry, according to NPPC, which has championed the pact for more than three years. Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes estimates that by the end of the
FTA’s 10-year phase-in period U.S. live hog prices will rise by $10 per animal, and the deal will generate an additional $687 million in U.S. pork exports to South Korea. The Asian nation will absorb 5 percent of total U.S. pork production, and the FTA will create more than 9,000 new direct jobs in the U.S. pork industry.
China – After announcing in October 2009 that it would lift its ban on U.S. pork imports, China in May began accepting shipments of U.S. pork. NPPC urged the Obama
administration to pressure the Chinese to accept imports. The Asian nation closed its market to U.S. pork in late April 2009 in the wake of an outbreak in humans of
novel H1N1 influenza, which the media misnamed “swine” flu. NPPC also continued to urge the administration to press China to address a number of other trade-related
issues that limit U.S. pork imports. After dropping in 2009 by 38 percent from 2008 amounts, U.S. pork exports to China in 2010 were up 15 percent over last year.
Mexico – Despite a 5 percent tariff on most U.S. pork exports going there, Mexico continued to be a top export destination for U.S. pork in 2010. The tariff was imposed in August in retaliation for the United States prohibiting Mexican trucks from hauling freight into America. NPPC – as it did in 2008 and 2009 – took the lead in organizing groups in the private sector to prompt the U.S. government to live up to its trade obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement, which includes a provision llowing Mexican trucks entry into the United States. NPPC’s on-going efforts on he trucking issue ensured that the tariff on U.S. pork was only 5 percent compared with the 20 percent duty imposed on a host of other U.S. products going to Mexico.
Russia – NPPC worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to get Russia to completely re-open its market to U.S. pork. By the end of 2009, Russia had delisted nearly all U.S. pork facilities, prohibiting them from shipping pork to Russia. USDA and USTR negotiated with the Russian Veterinary Service to develop a veterinary certificate to ensure that U.S. pork exports meet specific Russian microbiological and tetracycline- group residue requirements.
The USDA export verification program prompted Russia to relist most U.S. pork facilities.
Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership – The United States in 2010 began talks with Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore to join their Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade agreement. NPPC has been a strong advocate of the so-called TPP since its inception and was the first organization to publicly push the United States to
enter negotiations on it. Four negotiating sessions were concluded last year. The Asia-Pacific region is economically the fastest growing in the world, and it has the greatest potential for increased pork exports.
Cuba – While it didn’t pass Congress, legislation to lift travel restrictions and allow export financing for products going to Cuba advanced last year. The House Agriculture Committee approved the “Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act,” which NPPC strongly supported and which would clarify how U.S. farmers
and agricultural interests conduct business with Cuba and would allow direct transfers of funds from Cuban to U.S. financial institutions for products going to the island nation. According to Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes, U.S. pork exports to Cuba would more than double if the legislation were approved.
Source: National Pork Producers Council