WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rice farmers in the United States who have long dreamed of export market access to China were excited by a potential September announcement about the country allowing U.S. rice imports.
A delay to that announcement, though, shows the ongoing challenges of opening new export crop markets – not only in China, but also worldwide.
The delay was related to the phytosanitary framework for rice, which are rules about the requirements for crop pests, quality and diseases, in the exporting country. In the United States, crop phytosanitary restrictions issued by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service can require a nation or region to be free of certain crop pests (like fruit flies in citrus) before the U.S. will allow imports.
The U.S. Rice Producers Assoc. (USRPA) announced, earlier in September, that Chinese officials would sign a phytosanitary protocol paving the path for Chinese grain importers to receive U.S. rice, a protocol meeting both Chinese and USDA requirements. The USRPA had anticipated the signing during a September Chinese delegation visit, led by President Xi Jinping, which started Sept. 21 in Seattle.
On Sept. 17, though, USA Rice – the advocacy group for all segments of the rice industry, including mills, exporters and growers – reported the rice phytosanitary protocol was not being signed. The delay was owing to an interagency regulatory review in China, according to USA Rice.
"USA Rice also continues to remind interested parties that once the protocol is agreed to, there will still be a great deal of work to be done on both sides of the Pacific before shipments of U.S.-grown rice are eligible to be exported to China," said the group.
Nations have the right, recognized under international trade law, to protect domestic plant and animal resources from phytosanitary threats. Some experts argue those restrictions can be as restrictive to trade as trade tariffs, perhaps even more so.
"Developed and developing economies are using phytosanitary and even packaging requirements as trade barriers," said Osei-Agyeman Yeboah, an agricultural economist at North Carolina A&T State University.
Yeboah has studied trade barriers for U.S. farm exports to China, as well as barriers in Europe for vegetables and fresh flowers from Africa. He said it is difficult to pinpoint exactly how phytosanitary requirements restrict trade.
"It’s not like a tariff, where you can quantitatively demonstrate how a change in the import price might affect the amount imported," he explained. "Phytosanitary protocol are qualitative policies, so it’s very difficult to measure the effects of change."
In other words, a small change in phytosanitary restrictions may not mean a potential exporter would meet the requirements to ship products to the country issuing the restrictions. But a small change in tariff rates, especially on low-margin commodities, could create a significant new market.
