US pork producers take issue with Chinese ractopamine ban

China's ban on import and export of ractopamine is seen by the US pork industry as an attempt by Chinese producers to prevent the use of feed additive because American pork producers do not currently use it.

 

Ractopamine is said to help bring pigs to market weight faster.

 

In a response to a December 9 article by state-owned Xinhua news agency posted on the Chinese Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) website indicating that China will no longer allow the import or export of ractopamine, which many US producers use.

 

According to the Xinhua report, ractopamine and ractopamine hydrochloride are "stimulant drugs that are used as feed additives to promote leanness in pigs raised for their meat," and have no other applications. The statement also argues that "most countries around the world had not approved their use as veterinary drugs or additive in animal feed," a statement that US industry sources have strongly denied. China prohibited their use in 2002 because of "possible health risks," the story says.

 

One US industry source said the ban will not affect current US exports, since exporters have already imposed under a zero-tolerance policy for ractopamine. However, this source added that the announcement does dim the hopes of negotiations on ractopamine, which US exporters want in order to begin shipping pork raised using the substance in order to meet Chinese demand.

 

The industry source believed that the announcement was "more of a crackdown on ractopamine knock-offs" being used by domestic producers and by non-US pork producers that are either producing pork in China or attempting to import pork into China that has used "ractopamine-like product."

 

However, other informed sources suggested that such a move could be an attempt to bolster China's defences against any complaints at the World Trade Organization (WTO) that China's policy on ractopamine in pork is WTO-inconsistent. One source noted, however, that those two objectives are not inconsistent.

 

Another source noted that it would be difficult for China to justify a policy banning imports containing ractopamine if it allowed use of the additive for domestic production, as that would make it nearly impossible to defend the import ban as science-based.

 

An issue in a possible WTO complaint would be Article 5 of the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures.

 

Article 5.2 states that members must take "scientific evidence into account. Furthermore, Article 5.4 states that WTO members should "take into account the objective of minimizing negative trade effects" when crafting SPS policies. Additionally, Article 5.6 states that Members shall ensure that such measures are not "more trade-restrictive than required" to achieve the appropriate level of protection while "taking into account technical and economic feasibility."

 

The MOFCOM announcement comes one week after US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack declared that China would lift a ban on US pork related to the AH1N1, or "swine," flu and gave impression that exports would grow once technical details were worked out.

 

A USDA spokesman explained on Dec. 3 that the technical details mentioned by Vilsack in the announcement involved reaching an agreement with China that the terms of trade would revert to the situation that existed prior to Chinese actions over AH1N1. The agreement would therefore not cover US pork that is treated with ractopamine. China has blocked US pork exports in the past based on the presence of ractopamine in pork, and the issue had not been resolved at the time of the announced AH1N1 export ban.