China Re-Imposes Ban on Pork Casings; USMEF Seeking Details

China Re-Imposes Ban on Pork Casings; USMEF Seeking Details

In a sudden reversal of a policy change issued July 2, China has now re-imposed its A-H1N1 influenza-related ban on U.S. pork casings intended for further processing in China.

According to the FSIS Export Library, pork casings now fall under the state-by-state suspensions issued throughout May and early June, with effective dates ranging from April 27 to June 8.

Under these suspensions, Wyoming is technically the only state still eligible to ship pork products to China. With the ban on transit, however, the market has been effectively closed for the past 10 weeks.

The re-imposed casings ban stems from sanitation requirements for the exterior of containers used to ship pork casings to China, which were apparently not communicated to USDA when the ban on casings was lifted on July 2. The latest update to the Export Library offers no details on this issue, or any explanation of how China plans to handle shipments falling within the July 2-July 20 period – during which U.S. pork casings had been declared eligible. USMEF will provide more details as soon as they become available. Please contact Paul Clayton or Kevin Smith at 303-623-6328 with any questions.

# # #

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.

China Re-Imposes Ban on Pork Casings; USMEF Seeking Details

In a sudden reversal of a policy change issued July 2, China has now re-imposed its A-H1N1 influenza-related ban on U.S. pork casings intended for further processing in China.

According to the FSIS Export Library, pork casings now fall under the state-by-state suspensions issued throughout May and early June, with effective dates ranging from April 27 to June 8.

Under these suspensions, Wyoming is technically the only state still eligible to ship pork products to China. With the ban on transit, however, the market has been effectively closed for the past 10 weeks.

The re-imposed casings ban stems from sanitation requirements for the exterior of containers used to ship pork casings to China, which were apparently not communicated to USDA when the ban on casings was lifted on July 2. The latest update to the Export Library offers no details on this issue, or any explanation of how China plans to handle shipments falling within the July 2-July 20 period – during which U.S. pork casings had been declared eligible. USMEF will provide more details as soon as they become available. Please contact Paul Clayton or Kevin Smith at 303-623-6328 with any questions.

# # #

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.