The United States and the Kingdomof Saudi Arabiahave completed negotiations o...

The United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have completed negotiations on the terms of Saudi Arabia’s market access commitments as part of its World Trade Organization (WTO) accession package. 

Saudi Arabia has agreed to numerous improvements in its implementation of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, shelf-life restrictions and other nontariff measures that have historically hindered U.S. agricultural exports.

As part of its WTO accession, Saudi Arabia will bind more than 90 percent of all agricultural tariff lines at 15 percent or lower. After implementation, the average bound tariff rate will be about 7 percent.

As a result of taking on the obligations of the WTO agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Saudi Arabia is committed to applying science-based sanitary and phytosanitary standards to all agricultural goods, including meats, grains, fruits and vegetables. This includes:

Saudi Arabia has eliminated its prohibition on importing beef and other meat products from animals treated with growth-promoting hormones. Saudi Arabia has also agreed that any maximum residue requirements for synthetic hormones in animal products would be consistent with international standards.

Saudi Arabia will facilitate U.S. meat and poultry exports by recognizing an official USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service export certificate assuring that meat is safe, along with a producer or manufacturer self-certification that covers additional requirements not related to food safety or animal health. 

Saudi Arabia will accept internationally-recognized, manufacturer-determined use-by dates, with the exception of those on certain perishable foods and baby foods. Saudi Arabia has eliminated its prohibition on importing food products which have less than half of their remaining shelf-life.

Saudi Arabia has committed to bind the use of agricultural export subsidies at zero.

Saudi Arabia is a net importer of agricultural goods.  Virtually all barley, corn and soy cake imports are subsidized to provide feed inputs for Saudi Arabian producers, and the United States has historically been a large supplier of corn and soy cake to Saudi Arabia and a secondary supplier of barley.  U.S. agricultural exports to Saudi Arabia exceeded $480 million in 2004. The U.S. exported 912 metric tons (mt) of beef and beef variety meat to Saudi Arabia in 2004, down from 1,861 mt in 2003.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation 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, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –