Montana beef producers say they can’t wait to regain access to the enormous Chinese market after a 13-year hiatus.
The Montana Stockgrowers Association’s Errol Rice says today’s announcement that China will resume U.S. beef imports by mid-July is great news:
“China has 1.3 billion consumers and that’s a tremendous opportunity for us to tap into that market. We easily expect this market to reach $1 billion for U.S. beef producers rather quickly and far exceed that if we can get the technical agreements dialed in and start to move forward.”
Last September China announced it wasending its ban on U.S. beef imports after a 2003 Mad Cow scare in Washington State.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue today hailed the agreement between the United States and China on several key issues.
In return for resumption of American beef imports, the United States will issue a proposed rule to allow Chinese cooked poultry to enter U.S. markets.
Reuters reports China has also agreed to increase access for U.S financial firms.