U.S. AND MEXICAN OFFICIALS HAVE COME TO AN AGREEMENT ON RE-OPENING THE MEXIC...

U.S. AND MEXICAN OFFICIALS HAVE COME TO AN AGREEMENT ON RE-OPENING THE MEXICAN MARKET FOR   U.S. BEEF EXPORTS.  PHIL SENG, USMEF PRESIDENT AND CEO, COMMENTS:

Question #1 – What did it take to get the Mexican export market re-opened?

“It has been an arduous process to say the least … hard work by the USDA and the industry for the partial opening of the market.”

Question #2 - How significant is the re-opening of the Mexican market?

“Very significant…It should have impact as far as other markets are concerned.”

Question #3 - What actually is being allowed into Mexico at this point?

“What is now allowed in Mexico is boneless beef; it will be without the offal and trimmings…We look at this to being a very important first step in this process."

Question 4 - Will this help to open other markets such as Japan or Korea?

“This is a very good predicate to other markets the fact that someone else went first…it will be very, very positive from that respect.”

Question #5 - How excited are you about this?

“Extremely excited about it…excited about the prospects in the future.”