October 7, 2015

 

US, NZ meat groups support TPP

 

 

Two US meat producers' associations and a farmers' group in New Zealand have expressed support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), whose negotiations reached a successful conclusion on Monday in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

The US National Chicken Council said Monday it "applauds US Trade Representative Michael Froman and his team of negotiators for their years of work on the TPP." 

 

Its president, Mike Brown, said in a statement that the TPP "represents a significant opportunity to expand US chicken exports and bring increased economic benefits to chicken farmers and companies across the country".

 

"Our major goals in this deal are to get a strong commitment on enforcement, in particular in the area of sanitary and phytosanitary measures.  Second, we hope to see that the long-protected Canadian market is finally opened to free trade for poultry.

 

"We look forward to reviewing what we hope will be a commercially meaningful and high standard agreement that will open markets and increase US chicken exports", Brown's said.

 

The TPP includes the US, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

 

NPPC

 

The US National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) also expressed confidence that the TPP agreement would benefit all sectors of the US economy and provide "enormous new market opportunities for high-quality American pork products".

 

NPPC president Dr. Ron Prestage said the TPP should be beneficial just like past US free trade agreements, which "have increased US pork exports by 1,550 percent in value and 1,268 percent in volume since 1989—the year the United States began using bilateral and regional trade agreements to open foreign markets—and now are valued at nearly $6.7 billion".

 

He also said that while the new agreement should be a boon to US exporters to the region, the TPP "has the potential to provide even greater trade benefits if and when it is opened to additional countries, such as the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, all of which have expressed interest in joining the Pacific Rim trade bloc". The Philippines is the US' No. 1 market in Southeast Asia for its food and beverage exports topped by meat and dairy and poultry products.

 

Federated Farmers

 

The Federated Farmers of New Zealand, meanwhile, also welcomed the TPP as beneficial for agriculture and New Zealand, although it was "not perfect".

 

"While these trade deals are never perfect, opponents of the TPP should consider the serious consequences that would be faced by New Zealand if we were not part of such a trade agreement, should the Government be unable to secure Parliamentary agreement," Federated Farmers President Dr William Rolleston said.

 

Saying that TPP is New Zealand's first free trade agreement relationship with the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico and Peru, Rolleston pointed out that the partnership would result in tariff savings of NZ$259 million (US$168 million) per year, including $72 million (US$46.7 million) for meat exports and $102 million (US$66.15 million) for dairy exports.

 

At present, the other 11 member countries account for over 40% of New Zealand's exports, Rolleston said.