March 2, 2007

Asian beef, pork exports looking up: USMEF
 

Prospects for US meat exports to Asian countries arelooking up, Philip M. Seng, president and chief executive officer of the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF),  told reporters in a media conference.

US pork exports are expected to increase by 2 percent to Japan and by 25 percent to South Korea in 2007, according to Seng.

US pork exports worldwide were up 9 percent in volume and 9 percent in value from 2005 to 2006, partially due to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) issues in beef and avian influenza in poultry.

Seng said, however, US pork has established such a solid reputation in Japan that even when the market increases access for US beef, no diminished sales of the product are expected.

Meanwhile, US beef exports to Japan are growing, and should increase to 60,000 metric tonnes (MT), up from 14,000 MT in 2006. While not up to pre-2003 levels, confidence levels are increasing and demand for the product is expanding.

In fact, consumers in both Japan and Korea have expressed confidence in meat products from the United States, Seng said. For US beef in Japan, the issue has been limited supply of product to meet the demand for the product.

However, Korea has a different consumer base with different needs, Seng noted.

Although beef trade is not officially part of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Korea and the United States, Seng said the issue is definitely playing a role. A visit by Seng to Korea last week suggested that other  Korean ministries will also be involved in the dispute.

The irony, according to Seng, was that the Korea Agricultural Ministry never wanted an FTA, so a hard-line position that no FTA would occur without beef trade played into that ministry's hands. By working with the other ministries and communicating the benefits to Korea as a whole, progress is being made, he said.

Seng expects progress to be made in beef trade to Korea by the end of the month.

He said challenges about bone-in trade should be cleared up before an OIE announcement is made in May that the United States is a "controlled risk" country and, therefore, all beef from all animals can be traded when specific risk materials are removed, which is the protocol in this country.