NASS trims apple production; South Korea and U.S. beef

Washington Ag Today October 14, 2011 Washington’s apple crop this year is now pegged at 5.30 billion pounds. That new forecast from the Washington Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service is down two percent from the previous estimate and five percent below the 2010 crop. The agency says poor weather kept apple production below full potential this year. Washington’s crop makes up 60 percent of U.S. apple production which is now forecast at 9.4 billion pounds, down one percent from August but one percent above last year.

The U.S.-South Korean Free Trade Agreement, one of three approved by Congress this week, will reduce the Asian nation’s 40 percent tariff on U.S. beef imports to zero over the next 15 years. South Korea, however, will still limit those imports to beef from cattle under 30 months of age. That restriction is due of course to BSE having been found in the U.S. in 2003. During his visit to Washington state this week, Isi Siddiqui, Chief Ag Negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative, said during an interview;

Siddiqui: “We have an agreement, a protocol, where they have agreed to consult with us in terms of reaching full market access. But these exports to Korea are doing great. Last year we exported about 508 million dollars and we expect that number to go up this year even higher.”

USDA statistics show that in the year before the discovery of BSE in the U.S. 2002, U.S. beef shipments to South Korea were 597-million pounds. In 2010 they totaled 277 million pounds.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.