American ranchers buoyed by beef deals with China

The U.S. livestock market is about to simmer with new business — and more competition.

In what they hope to be the first of many deals that would further open the world’s largest market of middle-class consumers, President Donald Trump and his trade team, led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, began taking steps to settle two prominent trade disputes with China that have stumped the American livestock business for years.

Starting later this year, U.S. cattle ranchers will be able to sell their beef in China, which has refused American imports since the mad cow disease breakout in 2003. Trade bans of U.S. beef around the world, including China, contributed to the value of U.S. beef exports falling from $3 billion in 2003 to $1.1 billion in 2004, according to trade publication Food Safety News.

The U.S. beef industry has been lobbying for years to reopen the Chinese market. A breakthrough came in September when China announced its intent to lift the ban without specifying a time period, and further negotiations on technical details began.

The push to reopen the Chinese beef market likely was aided by the U.S. approval to allow fully cooked Chinese chicken to enter the U.S., a deal that was also announced Thursday. Chinese chicken has been banned in the U.S. because of sanitary and health concerns.

Livestock industry officials welcomed the announcement. U.S. beef producers will sell more to Chinese customers who are increasingly willing spend on foreign meats, including Australian and Brazilian imports.

Allowing Chinese chicken to be sold in the U.S. would mean more global competition, but it could lead to the end of a ban on U.S.-produced chicken in China, said Jim Sumner, president of USA Poultry & Egg Export Council, an advocacy group. China stopped accepting American chicken imports in 2015 because of fears of avian flu.

“It’s more important for us get that market back,” Sumner said.

“We’re making a lot of progress” on China, he said. “We can’t produce enough chicken wings to satisfy demand here. So it’s all good. We’re glad to see it happen because our industry believes in free, open trade.”

Chinese chicken farmers got a huge break last year when Agriculture Department inspectors completed a review of China’s poultry slaughterhouse inspection systems and concluded that its sanitary and food safety standards were adequate.

Sumner said opening the U.S. chicken market is gradual. Fully cooked chicken from China won’t be sold directly in grocery stores and is used mostly by restaurants and prepackaged food manufacturers as ingredients for other meals, such as soup, he said.

“Any imports from China would be very limited and (serve) special variety niche markets,” he said.

Some critics of imports say concerns about Chinese chicken processors are valid. Outbreaks of avian flu have been frequent in the country, and its labeling standards are lagging, they say.

Still, accepting Chinese chicken imports — a top priority of Chinese officials — likely was in exchange for lifting China’s ban on U.S. beef, Sumner said. And American beef producers are eager for more business.

“China has really become a major importer of beef over the last few years. We certainly missed out on that without having access,” said Kent Bacus, director of international trade and market access for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “This is something we’ve been working on for the last 13 years.”

Asian consumers tend to favor cuts that aren’t as popular in the U.S. — chuck roast, tongue, stomach, short ribs and heart. — and demand for these items in China could help raise the value of U.S. cattle, he said.

U.S. beef producers also are hoping to see their beef in steakhouses in Beijing and Shanghai.