Officials with the U.S. Meat Export Federation are predicting China will open its beef market fully to U.S. exports in the near future. China halted imports of U.S. beef in 2003 after a case of BSE was found in Washington state. Senior vice president for trade access, Thad Lively, says he’s not sure if it will happen yet this year, but is optimistic about the progress.
He says the last issue to resolve is the procedure to track U.S. cattle, and Chinese representatives must audit the system.
Lively says the current age and source verification programs used to export product to Japan would be acceptable for the Chinese.
China imported a record amount of beef last year and consumption will continue to expand in the next decade by 2.2 million tons, making it a real market opportunity.
