USDA, industry press lawmakers on South Korea FTA

USDA, industry press lawmakers on South Korea FTA    The country's top agriculture chief said congressional approval of the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement will expand farm exports to this Asian market by $1.8 billion annually.
   “Economic output is estimated to grow more under this agreement than from our last nine trade agreements combined,' said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at a press conference Tuesday. 'This agreement immediately eliminates duties on the majority of U.S. farm products exported to Korea and eliminates duties over time on many others, including U.S. beef.'
   He warned: 'Congress must move swiftly to ratify the U.S.-Korea Trade Agreement, because if we do not act quickly and decisively, America’s competitors will secure their own trade deals with Korea, and our competitors’ products will achieve an advantage at the expense of American productivity.”

Vilsack

   According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United States provided almost 30 percent of Korea’s total agricultural imports in 2010. In fiscal year 2010, ending Sept. 30, 2010, U.S. agricultural exports to Korea totaled nearly $5 billion, making Korea the fifth-largest export market for U.S. farm products.
   The U.S.-Korea agreement immediately eliminates duties on the majority of U.S. farm products exported to Korea, including wheat, corn, soybeans for crushing, whey for feed use, hides and skins, cotton, cherries, pistachios, almonds, orange juice, grape juice, and wine, and reduces or eliminates duties on many others over time.
   'For the first time, producers of U.S. food-grade soybeans would have access to the South Korean market outside of the import monopoly created by the Korean State Trading Enterprise,' said Steve Wellman, American Soybean Association's first vice president, in a statement. 'Tariffs on refined soybean oil would be eliminated over five years, and tariffs on crude soybean oil would be eliminated over 10 years.
      'Domestic demand for U.S. soybean meal will also increase because this agreement is expected to generate millions of dollars of new meat and poultry exports. Domestic livestock consumed 28 million metric tons of soybean meal in 2010, using nearly 80 percent of all the soybean meal processed in this country,' Wellman said.
   With ratification of the agreement, more than 90 percent of pork exports will be duty-free by 2016, USDA said. Moreover, Korea’s 40-percent tariff on U.S. beef will be eliminated over 15 years. U.S. beef exports to Korea nearly doubled last year compared to a year earlier.
   Korea imported 125,000 tons of U.S. beef in 2010, a 97-percent increase from the year before. However, Korea is negotiating a trade agreement with Australia, a major U.S. competitor for the Korean beef market, which may allow tariff cuts for Australian beef to take effect before those on U.S. beef if ratification of the U.S.-Korea agreement is delayed, USDA warned.
   In just over a decade, the U.S. share of Korea’s import market for goods has fallen from 21 percent to 9 percent. Meanwhile, USDA said Asian countries are securing their own preferential trade agreements that exclude the United States. Across the region, 180 bilateral agreements excluding the United States are in force, 20 are awaiting implementation, and 70 are under negotiation.
   The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday will hold a hearing regarding the benefits of the pending U.S. free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama. U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will testify on behalf of the Obama administration. ' Chris Gillis