September 11, 2007

US poultry chief appeals fair deal for China

A recent US mandate that bars China's poultry exports to the country leaves a notion that it was "made on political grounds," a top American poultry industry representative said on Friday (September 7).

James H Sumner, president of the US Poultry & Egg Export Council and head of the International Poultry Council said China must be given fair consideration and that decisions should not be made on the "basis of sound science politics."

Sumner was commenting on an act passed by the US House of Representatives earlier this month which state that "none of the funds made available in this Act may be used to establish or implement a rule allowing poultry products to be imported into the United States from the People's Republic of China".

He expressed concern that "politicians who don't understand the principles of free trade" may come to severely undermine the US export trade.

Sumner made the remarks during an unexpected visit to "show support" to China's poultry industry, only days before a bilateral food safety summit between the two countries scheduled in Washington DC.

In an August 31 letter to the US House Agricultural Appropriations Committee, he explicitly called for "calmer minds and careful voices" to resolve current disputes.

Sumner brought along with him similar letters from five American companies, which together represent 75 percent of US chicken production and 80 percent of its exports. The letters, he said, is good evidence that the US poultry is supporting his advocate and that China is willing to commit and work together with US poultry sector.

Earlier, the Chinese poultry industry condemned the US act on the ground that it "violated basic rules of the

World Trade Organization and is against the principles of fair trade".

China is the world's largest meat producer and the second largest poultry producer, after the United States.