04/11/05 USDA says Taiwan will reopen to beef

American Rancher April 11, 2005 After some premature reports that Taiwan was reopening its country to U.S. beef the USDA last week officially announced that indeed Taiwan will again allow the import of U.S. boneless beef from cattle under 30 months of age beginning April 16th. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns called it good news. Johanns: "We are very pleased about it. It comes on the heels of another market reopening. So we couldn't be more excited." Undersecretary J.B. Penn says that even with the under 30 months of age restriction; Penn: "This market is now 90% open. We are very pleased that it was done on a scientific basis and that is what we are striving for, to get all of our markets reopened." They were closed in late 2003 because of that case of BSE. The big three that remain closed are Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. The U.S. Meat Export Federation says that a survey conducted in Taiwan in late February of this year found that 56 percent of consumers said they were confident of U.S. beef safety. That was up 11 percent from the previous year. The Federation says that in 2003 the U.S. exported 76.3-million dollars worth of beef and beef variety meat to Taiwan and boneless beef accounted for 74 percent of that. I'm Bob Hoff.