The U.S. has finalized details under a plan to send U.S. beef to China for the first time since 2003. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin made the announcement Monday. The announcement means the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has posted the requirements for its Export Verification program for U.S. establishments shipping to China, which will enable packers to apply for approval to export to China. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service has also updated its online Export Library specifying China’s requirements for certifying U.S. beef to be shipped there.
China has emerged as a major beef buyer in recent years, with imports increasing from $275 million in 2012 to $2.5 billion in 2016. However, the United States has been banned from China’s market since 2003. The United States is the world’s largest beef producer and was the world’s fourth-largest exporter, with global sales of more than $5.4 billion in 2016. Until the ban took effect, the U.S. was China’s largest supplier of imported beef, providing 70 percent of their total intake.
Source: NAFB News Service