Korean Free Trade Agreement & Annual Beef Day On Capitol Hill

The announcement that the free trade agreement between the US and South Korea will be implemented on March 15 was a huge boon for American businesses and working families. Jack Field, Washington Cattlemen’s Association Executive Vice President talks about what this means for Washington cattle producers in the long term.

FIELD: Some of the big keys in the FTA will be the phase out over a fifteen year period of tariffs that are levied against US beef products that are sent into South Korea, with Korea being as large a country and economy as it is it represents some enormous opportunities for the US beef industry and especially the Washington cattle industry to have an opportunity to provide high quality beef into the Korean marketplace. Korean consumers purchased approximately $520 million dollars worth of US beef in 2010, which was a 140 percent increase over 2009 figures and they estimate that value could increase as high as 1.8 billion dollars at the time of full implementation of the trade agreement.

Jack would also like to invite everyone to the annual beef day on the hill today.

FIELD: Washington Cattlemen’s Association is going to have a big barbecue on the east end of the state capitol and we’ll be barbecuing 400 pounds of tri-tip roast for the legislators and members of the public. Come by and have a high quality beef lunch, and we’ll have an opportunity to explain on a first hand basis the importance of the cattle industry to the state’s economy and help answer any questions that people may have about beef production.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.