March 25, 2011

 

China's trade barriers cost US farmers US$5.2 billion

 

 

US farmers lose as much as US$5.2 billion in sales each year because of China's import restrictions on wheat, poultry, pork and other agricultural products, according to a new International Trade Commission study.

 

"China is our number one market for US agricultural product exports, but China's unjustified trade barriers are blocking some of our goods such as wheat and beef," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said in response to the new study.

 

The ITC report, which was requested last year by the Finance Committee, said China is the world's second-largest agricultural importer behind the US but still uses tariff and non-tariff measures to restrict imports.

 

"We need to hold China accountable to its international agreements so American ranchers and farmers can compete on a level playing with their world-class, safe agricultural products," Baucus said.

 

The report estimated that Chinese tariffs and tariff-rate quotas reduced US food and agricultural exports to China in 2009 by between US$1.3 billion and US$2.1 billion.

 

US wheat exports suffered the most, or between US$489 million and US$1.2 billion in lost sales.

 

That was followed by US$358 million to US$363 million in lost sales for poultry, US$51 million to US$84 million for pork, US$28 million to US$71 million for cotton and US$32 million to US$43 million for alcoholic beverages, the study said.

 

Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Charles Grassley, the top Republicans on the Finance Committee, complained China also uses phony safety concerns to block US farm goods.

 

The ITC estimated non-tariff barriers, such as food safety restrictions or technical barriers to trade, impeded US$2.6 billion to US$3.1 billion in US farm sales to China.

 

Wheat, potatoes, apples, stone fruit, cotton, beef, pork and poultry were most affected, the study said.