News & Events | United States | CAFTA Expands Opportunities For U.S. Beef And Pork

United States

CAFTA Expands Opportunities For U.S. Beef And Pork

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) early Thursday morning by a narrow margin, 217-215. CAFTA eliminates immediately, or over a period of time, nearly all tariffs and other trade barriers to U.S. beef and pork products sold in the region.

“Faced with high duties on beef and pork, U.S. producers have had encumbered access to this market for years. These duties are going to be ratcheted down over the next 15 years to zero,” USMEF President and CEO Philip M. Seng said.

CAFTA includes Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The Senate approved it last month and it now goes to the president for his signature.

“USMEF has identified major importers, retailers, and distributors in these markets and is very excited about increased access CAFTA allows to this region,” Seng said.

For the last five years Guatemala has been the most important market in the region for U.S. beef exports. Since 1999, annual U.S. beef and beef variety meat exports have been stable at around $4 million.

Guatemala has been the largest market for U.S. pork and pork variety meat in the last five years as exports increased 100 percent from $4.5 million up to $9 million.

Philippines

Philippines Reopens To U.S. Beef

The Philippines Department of Agriculture announced it has reopened to U.S. boneless beef from animals not older than 30 months with specified risk materials (SRM) removed. The Philippines closed to U.S. beef June 30 following the announcement of a second case of BSE in the United States. FSIS has not updated its library to identify export requirements as of yet.

U.S. beef exported to the Philippines has increased in value since 2003 when U.S. beef and beef variety volume was 1,320 metric tons (mt) valued at $4.9 million compared to 978 mt valued at $5.1 million in 2004.

The average value of U.S. beef (excluding variety meat) exported to the Philippines in 2004 was $3.21 per pound compared to the 2003 average value of U.S. beef exported to Japan, the largest market at that time, was $1.78 per pound and worldwide was $1.65 per pound.

Japan

Safeguards for Pork, Chilled Beef And Frozen Beef Not Triggered

Japanese safeguards on pork, chilled beef and frozen beef, used to control import volume so imports do not negatively impact domestic industry, were not triggered this quarter, which ended in June.

The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) announced import volume for pork in June was 62,981 mt, which was well below the 81,759 mt total that would have triggered the safeguard.

Chilled beef volume for June was 16,048 mt, which was close to the 17,921 mt total that would have triggered the safeguard and frozen beef was 10,225, below 14,642 mt that would have triggered the safeguard.

The next possible safeguard would be November 1 after totals for the July-August-September quarter are received in October. Once a safeguard is triggered, it is kept in place until the end of the Japanese fiscal year, which is March 31.