Despite Slow Start, Phase One Deal Hitting Stride

WASHINGTON, DC – Eight months after reaching a Phase I trade agreement with China, the United States is already seeing good results from the pact. Floyd Gaibler is Director of Trade Policy and Biotechnology with the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) and says the deal that went into effect in February hasn’t taken off like a rocket, at least from an overall sales standpoint. The Chinese agreed to purchase between $40 billion and $50 billion worth of agricultural and food products over the next two years and he notes that the agreement is actually back-loaded to provide for more sales in 2021. So far, year over year, Chinese volume purchases of corn in 2020 are up 50 percent, soybean sales are 15 percent higher, and pork sales have increased 134 percent. But Gaibler quickly points out that “frankly, in my view, the most important of this agreement are the structural reforms that were included”. Collectively, he explains, food and ag groups raised 57 issues to be negotiated and as of today, 50 have been resolved and include streamlining the registration process for dried distillers grains (DDGS), a protocol for barley and malt, and asynchronose policies on biotechnology. Not everything, however, has been solved. Gaibler points to an outstanding revision of the biotech process, which could take a full year to work through all the elements.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)