May 5, 2010

FTAs could make or break US overseas pork markets

The failure of the US to approve free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea would result in the US pork industry being out of those markets within 10 years, costing producers more than US$11.50 per pig, according to the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC).

Colombia and Panama recently finalised FTAs with Canada, and South Korea is nearing completion on a deal with the EU.

NPPC joined with the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Cattlemen's Beef Association and National Corn Growers Association in decrying congressional inaction on the pending trade deals at a press conference on May 3.

"For us to remain a successful and viable industry," said Don Butler, NPPC immediate past president, "we need new and expanded market access. And the way to get that is through free trade agreements."

Exports are vital to the US pork industry, which last year shipped more than US$4.3 billion of pork products, an amount that added about US$38 to the price producers received for each hog marketed.

Pork - and other - exports also create jobs, adding to the overall US economy. For every 1% increase in the size of the US pork industry, an expansion that would come through a rise in exports, 920 full-time pork industry jobs are created and nearly 4,600 jobs are generated throughout the economy, according to reports.

The US-South Korea Free-Trade Agreement would add US$10 to the price US pork producers receive for each hog marketed and would create more than 3,600 pork industry and 18,000 total jobs. The FTAs with Colombia and Panama would, respectively, add US$1.15 and 20 cents to the price of each hog sold and generate 3,500 and 600 pork industry jobs, according to a separate analysis of the FTAs.