US Meat Export Federation statement on possible retaliatory duties on US pork

Statement from U.S. Meat Export Federation President and CEO Dan Halstrom:

The announcement by the Chinese government that it is placing pork on a list of U.S. products that could be subject to increased import duties is cause for great concern in the pork industry. USMEF is seeking further details on this announcement and on the likely timing of any action by the Chinese government.

China is a key market for U.S. pork and especially for pork variety meat. In 2017, the U.S. industry exported 309,284 metric tons of pork and pork variety meat to China, valued at $663.1 million—our third-largest international market by volume and fourth-largest by value. For variety meat exports only, China was our largest destination in both volume (181,351 metric tons) and value ($425.2 million). In fact, China accounted for more than one third of U.S. pork variety meat exports last year.

Variety meat exports make a very important contribution to hog carcass value and last year these exports to China alone equated to more than $3.50 per U.S. hog slaughtered. China is a price-sensitive market so any tariff rate increase would affect the competitive position of U.S. pork.