UK and EU for U.S. Beef Exports
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. U.S. meat exports are improving over the past year, with shipments growing to Latin America, Indonesia, South Korea and others.
But Dan Halstrom, President and CEO at the U.S. Meat Export Federation, says some recent export news is sounding pretty good as well …
HALSTROM … “The other one that shows a lot of promise is the U.K. The announcement with the 13,000 metric tons, zero-duty quota is indeed very good news."
Which, Halstrom says isn’t just a great deal for beef producers …
HALSTROM … “And it’s an opportunity on pork as well. Not many people are talking about pork, but they’re so reliant on the E.U. mainland for their supply that they want to diversify. They want to have other irons in the fire and not be only dependent on the E.U. So, potentially, very impactful opportunity or both beef and pork in the U.K.”
As for the E.U., Halstrom says their extreme phytosanitary restrictions have prevented that to date …
HALSTROM … “So, if something as simple as approving the carcass spray rinses, which are put on to control bacteria, if they were just to approve that part of it, that would be huge. So, there’s some things that could be done without approving everything. Once again, the E.U. methodology on production agriculture is so in-your-face with the U.S., it drives you a little bit crazy.”
Halstrom says the E.U. is an opportunity, but something he’ll believe when he sees it.
