December 10, 2007

After Peru beef agreement, US cattlemen look to Columbia and Panama

US cattlemen have hailed the Senate's approval of the Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) last week (December 4, 2007).

Under the agreement, Peru will immediately eliminate duties on high quality beef and provide duty-free tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on standard beef cuts, said Stacey Satterlee, National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA)'s director of legislative affairs, adding that the market could grow to US$15 million a year.

Similar deals with Colombia and Panama, now making its way through Congress, would allow for duty-free treatment of high quality US beef on day one of implementation.

 Both Colombia and Panama have put in place import measures consistent with OIE guidelines and have agreed to recognise the US beef inspection system as equivalent.  These agreements have also broken down pre-existing Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and technical barriers.

NCBA needs Congress to pass the Colombia and Panama deals so the US agriculture sector can reap the benefits of these well-negotiated agreements, Satterlee said.