Next Steps in Sending U.S. Beef to China

In September China announced that the ban against importing U.S. beef had been lifted. National Cattlemen's Beef Association Director of International Trade Kent Bacus says there are several important steps that have to happen prior to U.S. beef being on Chinese grocery store shelves.

Bacus: "Now we are at the technical phase, we have to decide exactly what kind of product are we going to send to China. China has some restrictions on other countries that already export beef there. They have a law against raptomine which is a beta agonist. They don't allow the use of hormones and so other countries have conceded that to them. The question is going to be whether our government also will make those concessions. If so that will restrict the amount of beef that we can sell into China. So we are taking a cautious approach here because we don't want to do anything that would restrict the ability of our producers to export to China. At the same time, we have to get our foot in the door sometime. And so it is a careful conversation we are having within the industry, because we want our producers to have the freedom to make that choice. If they want to provide beef to China, then they can make those decisions themselves. We do not want any of these demands from China to become demands on the entire beef industry. Anything that is going to happen with China will have to be voluntary.That is a very important thing that we want to stress."