October 29, 2004

US Still Unable to Restart Beef Trade with China

Despite negotiation efforts, the US remains unable to secure a lifting of China's ban on US beef ten months after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease, was discovered in the US, according to a US Department of Agriculture official said.

USDA Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services J.B. Penn, who is now in Hong Kong after more than a week of negotiations in several Asian countries seeking deals with countries to resume beef trade, said China's refusal to lift its ban defies guidelines set by the World Organization for Animal Health, known by its French acronym OIE.

Penn said, "We were pleased with the Chinese commitment to ... adhere to OIE guidelines for safe trade in animal products. However, we strongly emphasize that their actions are in contradiction of OIE guidelines."

Under those OIE guidelines, he said, "there are no science-based reasons that would prohibit our beef trade (with China) from resuming" immediately.

The US exported 12,422 metric tons of beef to China in 2003 worth $28.4 million before the US announced the discovery of a BSE case in December, according to USDA statistics compiled by the US Meat Export Federation, or USMEF.