U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told Reuters this week that he plans to raise the issue of the ban on imports of U.S. poultry that was imposed by China at the start of the U.S. outbreak of avian influenza earlier this year.
Secretary Vilsack will be participating in the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in Guangzhou, China on November 21-23. The meeting is an annual forum to discuss trade and economic issues. “It’s an opportunity for us to educate China and to hopefully over time see a relaxation of that bans” Vilsack said in the Reuters interview.
USDA has been urging China to limit imports only from those states or regions in which U.S. poultry has been infected by avian influenza as opposed to a nationwide trade restriction. “International rules suggest a regional approach would be appropriate,” Vilsack said. However, Vilsack said he did not expect the ban would be lifted during next week’s meeting in China and he did not specify the timeline for any possible action by China.
Avian influenza in the United States led both China and South Korea to impose bans of U.S. poultry imports. In 2014, China and South Korea accounted for about $482.5 million in export sales of U.S. poultry meat and products, according to USDA data.
No new cases of avian influenza have been identified since June and some other countries that imposed bans have eased restrictions.
