Chinese Trade Concessions Could Boost U.S. Pork Exports

URBANDALE, IA – Securing zero-tariff access to China for U.S. pork would be an economic boon for American agriculture and the country, according to the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC). Based on an analysis by Iowa State University Livestock Economist Dermot Hayes, unrestricted access to the Chinese chilled and frozen market would reduce the overall trade deficit with China by nearly 6 percent and generate 184,000 new U.S. jobs in the next decade. According to the data, U.S. pork sales would generate $24.5 billion in sales if allowed unrestricted access to the world’s largest pork-producing nation over the next ten years. NPPC President David Herring, a hog farmer from Lillington, N.C. explains that in spite of being the lowest-cost producer of pork in the world, 72 percent tariffs remove the competitive advantage over Europe, Brazil, and Canada. Pork is a staple of the Chinese diet. Yet China’s swine herd has been devastated by African swine fever, reducing domestic production by more than 50 percent and resulting in a mounting food price inflation challenge for the country.