Why did the chicken cross the ocean?
Effective immediately, China is lifting a five-year ban on American poultry according the Associated Press. This is great news, especially after the country’s October’s commitment to annually buy $40-50 billion of U.S. agricultural products.
Why exactly had the communist nation banned our poultry? The Office of the United States Trade Representative released a statement explaining it in more detail, but it still doesn’t make sense:
China has banned all U.S. poultry since January 2015 due to an avian influenza outbreak in December 2014, even though the United States has been free of this disease since August 2017. The United States exported over $500 million worth of poultry products to China in 2013.The United States is the world’s second largest poultry exporter, with global exports of poultry meat and products of $4.3 billion last year.
One of the mitigating factors is an outbreak of African swine fever which obliterated China’s pork market. American chicken exports could really flourish in China as a replacement for that source of protein.
The industry responded very favorably to this news.
“The announcement sent shares of major U.S. chicken processers, Sanderson Farms, Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride to new highs for the year Thursday,” the AP reported.
U.S. Senator David Perdue of Georgia was also happy. “As the #1 🐔 producing state, this expanded access will have a huge impact on Georgia’s poultry producers,” he tweeted.
United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer added, “China is an important export market for America’s poultry farmers, and we estimate they will now be able to export more than $1 billion worth of poultry and poultry products each year to China. Reopening China to U.S. poultry will create new export opportunities for our poultry farmers and support thousands of workers employed by the U.S. poultry industry.”
Hat Tip: The Daily Wire