For the Week Ending February 1, 2019
NPPC STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF TRICHINAE SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM FOR PORK EXPORTS
NPPC this week released a new Meat of the Matter paper focused on the importance of participation in the USDA’s Trichinae Surveillance Program. NPPC worked to secure funding for this Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) program designed to comply with new standards within the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Codex Alimentarius. The new chapters and standards on Trichinae are science based and fair. They apply to all OIE and Codex members and will provide a key to unlock access to foreign markets that have previously used the guise of Trichinae risk to protect their domestic industry. The U.S. pork industry, however, must prove that its herd meets the standards for negligible risk. Otherwise, any other nation could restrict U.S. chilled exports simply by showing we are out of compliance with the new standards. For more on this, check out the full paper here.
USDA AND FDA NEAR FINAL AGREEMENT ON REGULATION OF LAB-PRODUCED CULTURED PROTEIN
According to public comments by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, the USDA and FDA are close to signing a memorandum of understanding regarding regulatory authority of laboratory-produced cultured protein. The agencies have agreed to joint regulatory oversight with the USDA maintaining authority for inspection and labelling of cultured protein products. NPPC supports the regulatory structure and advocated aggressively through senior-level outreach to Trump administration officials and Congress for USDA inspection and labelling authority.
NPPC URGES CHINA $3.5 BILLION U.S. PORK PURCHASE
NPPC this week urged the United States and China to quickly resolve their trade differences and asked the Asian nation to make a minimum $3.5 billion purchase of U.S. pork over the next five years. NPPC’s appeal came on the eve U.S. trade talks with China in Washington earlier this week. For more information, read NPPC’s press release here.
USTR HOLDS HEARING ON PROPOSED U.S.-UK TRADE AGREEMENT
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) this week hosted a hearing to inform U.S. interests and negotiating positions for the pending trade talks between the United States and the United Kingdom. Testifying on behalf of NPPC was Craig Thorn, formerly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service. The hearing is a part of the public notice and comment process following USTR’s notification to Congress of the Trump administration’s intent to enter trade negotiations with the U.K. NPPC supports U.S. negotiation of a free trade agreement with the U.K. but only if it eliminates tariff and non-tariff barriers on U.S. pork exports.
CPTPP TO ADMIT NEW NATIONS; NPPC URGES TRADE TALKS WITH JAPAN
Members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) last week agreed to guidelines for admitting new members, prompting calls for the United States to rejoin the pact. The CPTPP makes a U.S. trade agreement with Japan even more critical because U.S. pork is at risk of losing market share in one of its largest markets. The CPTPP has been ratified by Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam, with Brunei, Chile, Malaysia and Peru expected to finalize their participation soon. Additionally, the European Union’s position in Japan has been strengthened through its new trade agreement with the island nation. share in one of its largest NPPC continues to urge the Trump administration to expeditiously negotiate a trade agreement with Japan to avoid market share loss.
USDA AWARDS AGRICULTURAL TRADE PROMOTION PROGRAM FUNDING
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue this week announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded $200 million to 57 organizations under the Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP). The ATP is the third element of the USDA’s trade mitigation program to assist farmers negatively affected by trade retaliation against the United States. Applications for this program were accepted from Sept. 4 to Nov. 2. The applications were evaluated according to his criteria: potential growth in the export’s target market, direct injury from retaliatory tariffs and the likelihood that the project will have a short-term impact on agricultural exports. Other segments of the trade mitigation package included the Market Facilitation Program, providing payments to farmers, including pork producers, and the food purchase and distribution program. U.S. pork was the largest beneficiary of the purchase program. To view the complete list of ATP recipients, click here.
WHAT’S AHEAD
MARKET FACILIATION PROGRAM SIGN-UP DEADLINE FEB. 14
As the government reopened this week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that the deadline to sign-up for the Market Facilitation Program, which is providing farmers relief from the negative effects of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods, would remain Feb. 14. The original deadline was Jan. 15.