November 18, 2019

Delmarva welcomes end on Chinese poultry ban, says US poultry has continued without China

Poultry farmers in Delaware, the United States, stand to benefit as China lifts a ban on US poultry products.

Both the US and China announced the ban being lifted on November 15 as part of trade negotiations. China banned US poultry following an outbreak of avian influenza in 2015.

Annual sales projections with the ban removed vary from US$1 billion to US$2 billion.

"This is good news for farmers and chicken companies and their employees here on Delmarva," said James Fisher, a spokesman for Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc.  "It certainly has the potential to increase demands overseas for Delmarva-raised chicken."  

While Fisher applauded the ban's removal, he added that the foreign poultry market has maintained without China

"There are many other countries around the world that have remained interested in buying US chicken—Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong. There are plenty of countries that continue to import chicken from the US and from Delmarva," he said.

More than 730 farms in Delaware produced more than 52 million chickens and other poultry for meat production in 2017, according to the USDA Agriculture Census.

Fisher said about 10-15% of that chicken is exported to other countries.

Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Michael T. Scuse said in a statement that China's move would help local chicken producers.

The Agriculture Department said poultry production generates nearly US$3.4 billion of economic impact on Delmarva.

- Delaware Public Media