U.S. meat exporters still getting cold shoulder from China

Philip Seng, president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, warned the U.S. meat industry is rapidly falling behind its competitors in the lucrative Chinese market.    Philip Seng, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, warned that the United States is rapidly falling behind its competitors as China continues to shut out U.S. beef exports.
   China closed its market to U.S. beef in 2003, following a case of a cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a brain-wasting disease capable of being transmitted to humans through the consumption of the infected cow’s meat. 
   “At that time, and for several years thereafter, China was not a large importer of beef. But that changed dramatically in 2012, when beef import demand in China surged due to strong economic growth and a sharp decline in domestic production. China now imports more beef every month than it did in an entire calendar year in 2011. In the first half of this year, imports totaled nearly $910 million – up 28 percent from a year ago,” Seng wrote in an op-ed released by the federation on Thursday. 
   “While the U.S. industry remains on the sidelines, Australia, Uruguay, New Zealand, Argentina and Canada are all gaining a strong foothold in China. Being shut out of the Chinese market also affects the prices U.S. beef cuts command in other Asian destinations, as China has begun to exert significant influence on global beef trade. For the U.S. beef industry, the lost opportunity due to our lack of access to China is currently estimated at more than $100 per head,” he added.
   Seng noted the United States has done a poor job at engaging Chinese authorities on finding ways to meet their expectations and fully reopen this lucrative market to U.S. beef shipments. 
   While not totally shut out, U.S. pork has suffered similar setbacks in China due to the industry’s use of ractopamine, a feed additive that promotes leanness in animals raised for their meat. 
   “Similar to the beef complex, China has no lack of suitors who want a piece of its imported pork market. In addition to the EU, Canada and Chile compete aggressively in China and Mexican pork is a recent entrant into the market. Ractopamine is not an issue for suppliers from the EU and Chile (where it is not approved for use), but other competitors are also undeterred by China’s demands. Canada, in fact, has created a ractopamine-free verification program that even includes segregation at the cold storage facility level. This is another instance in which exceptional opportunities for export growth carried the day,” Seng wrote.