December 22, 2005

 

US beef industry recovering well from mad cow

 

 

The US beef industry is finally recovering from the discovery of mad-cow disease two years ago and can expect a growing number of foreign customers, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Wednesday.

 

A major trading partner, South Korea, may soon end its embargo on US beef, Johanns said. Japan eased its ban last week, reopening a market that had been the most lucrative for US cattle producers and meat processors.

 

"Certainly the pattern now is in the right direction, with Japan's decision. We've restored the vast percentage of trade in beef," Johanns said in an interview with The Associated Press.

 

At the same time, officials anticipate scaling back the higher level of testing for mad cow disease. Officials had increased testing from about 55 to 1,000 daily after the first case of mad cow disease two years ago,

 

"It was not a food safety initiative at all. It was an attempt to get an idea of the condition of our herd," Johanns told the AP.

 

Authorities have now tested 556,143 animals and turned up a second case in a Texas-born cow in June. The number tested is about 1 percent of the 45 million adult cows in the US.

 

Originally intended to last until this month, the expanded testing would not be scaled back today or tomorrow, Johanns said.

 

"But certainly sometime after the first of the year, we'll really start to engage in what that future testing regimen should be like," he said.

 

Johanns, a former Nebraska governor, ended the year on a high note. When he took office on Jan 21, ending a Japanese embargo on US beef was Johanns's top priority. The first US shipments of beef arrived last week in Japan, which was worth US$1.4 billion to the US industry in 2003.

 

South Korea, worth about US$815 million in 2003, appears close to ending its embargo. Johanns said smaller, still-closed Asian markets--Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Singapore--also look promising.

 

Johanns said the swift resumption of shipments to Japan makes a strong case for the department's plan to have a nationwide system of tracking livestock movements.

 

Officials want the ability to pinpoint the movements of cows, chickens and pigs within 48 hours and have said they would let the industry run the animal identification programme.

 

"Those that are able to trace and verify and identify their animals were able to get into the Japan market overnight," Johanns said.

 

Trade issues will dominate Johanns's agenda in the coming year. The secretary returned Monday from WTO talks in Hong Kong, where agriculture played a central role. There was no agreement on a broad framework for reducing subsidies, but Johanns said there is still plenty of time in 2006 to reach a global deal.

 

In the meantime, Congress will be preparing to write a new farm bill, which provides for the subsidies at issue in the trade talks. The department held 52 forums nationwide on the farm bill--22 by Johanns himself--and will use the input from farmers to assemble ideas for the legislation.

 

"Anyone who ignores trade is jeopardising 27 percent of the receipts for farmers and ranchers," Johanns said. "So the WTO process is definitely something we pay attention to."