By MEGGIE I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last fall, Chinese officials agreed to reopen their border to U.S. pork imports in the wake of an H1N1 influenza outbreak in humans. However, negotiations were only just finalized last week, allowing the USDA to declare a victory in reestablishing pork trade with China.

“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.”
Pork trade is expected to resume immediately with China once both sides finalize export documentation.

In 2008, China was the U.S. pork industry’s fastest growing market, accounting for nearly $560 million in U.S. exports. Also during that time, China was the United States’ seventh largest market, accounting for 6 percent of U.S. pork and pork variety meat exports. In late April 2009, the Asian nation implemented a ban on U.S. pork during a period of misunderstanding linking a novel strain of H1N1 influenza in humans to swine. As a result of the media misnaming the influenza virus, “swine flu,” China halted further pork imports from the United States.

Then in October of that same year, at the conclusion of the annual U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meeting, China announced that it would rescind its pork import ban following a series of discussions with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Rep. Ron Kirk.

“When I traveled to China with U.S. Trade Rep. Kirk in October, our discussions with Chinese officials laid the groundwork for reopening this market,” Vilsack said. “This resolution is excellent news for American hog producers.”

Since that time, the United States and China have worked to implement this commitment. The United States has repeatedly stressed the need for China to remove all restrictions on trade in pork products related to the H1N1 virus, given clear guidance from international bodies like the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), World Health Organization (WHO), and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), that there is no risk to humans from consuming properly prepared pork and pork products.

“This agreement is a win for America’s pork producers, whose safe and high-quality exports can now flow freely into China and support agriculture jobs here at home,” Ambassador Kirk said.

Additionally, NPPC is encouraging the Obama Administration to press China to address a number of other trade-related issues that limit other U.S. pork imports.

Among those issues are China’s ban on U.S. pork produced with ractopamine – an FDA-approved feed additive that improves efficiency in pork production – subsidies China provides its domestic pork producers and a value-added tax it imposes on imports.