Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 3/30/10

U.S. pork exporters can ship product to China following final revisions Friday and Monday announced by USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Changes to the FSIS Export Library on March 26 should have cleared most U.S. products for shipment, while revisions posted Monday finalized details with regard to pork casings only, Joe Schuele, spokesman for the U.S. Meat Export Federation, confirmed for Meatingplace.

"Obviously we'll be watching the market with some caution until product is flowing successfully again, but we feel there's a workable agreement in place that will allow trade to resume," Schuele said.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack earlier this month announced an agreement with China for the country to resume imports of U.S. pork for the first time since mid-2009, when Beijing imposed a ban on fears of H1N1.

In a notice sent to its members on Friday, USMEF highlighted these key points in the revised export requirements:

• Product with a pack date on or after Dec. 1, 2009, is eligible to export to China
• The certificate date for export must be on or after March 24, 2010
• A new bilingual FSIS letterhead certificate must accompany all shipments

Late in 2009, China posted new requirements for advance notification of shipments. USMEF urged exporters to read the new requirements as presented in the FSIS Library of Export Requirements to avoid rejection or destruction of product. These new requirements do not apply to natural casings.

"Under this agreement, U.S. pork will return to China under the same terms as our competitors in Europe and Canada," USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng said in the notice. "It's important to remember that China has a history of dramatic shifts in its pork production and its need for imported product. That's why it is critical to be well-positioned in this market whenever circumstances change and new opportunities emerge."

U.S. pork and pork variety meat exports to China peaked in 2008, totaling 366 million pounds valued at more than $334 million. U.S. exports plummeted by more than 60 percent last year, thanks largely to the ban. However, domestic supply also was a big factor; China's imports from all pork suppliers fell by 42 percent. Nonetheless, China was the world's fifth-largest pork importer by volume.

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