US beef exports are showing signs of strong recovery, with key
markets in Asia opening up and sales volumes starting to build.
The industry suffered a serious hit in 2003, when the USA
reported its first case of BSE and export markets, which at that
point were worth $7.5bn (£3.8bn) a year, started to close. At the
peak of the crisis about two-thirds of that business was shut
down.
Reopening the export market has been painstaking, requiring
tightened controls on farms and in abattoirs and numerous trade
missions to convince buyers that the problem had been dealt
with.
The crucial Japanese market - once worth $1.7bn (£900m) - was
reopened in December 2005, but was closed again after a breach of
the protocols governing the presence of specified risk
materials.
Since then, trade with Japan has increased slowly, but on the
proviso that the beef only comes from animals aged 20 months or
younger and that all consignments are individually checked.
US ranchers got a boost late last month when the
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in
Paris reclassified the USA as a "controlled risk" area for meat
safety, an endorsement of its BSE control measures.
This news has been followed by an announcement from Japan that,
following a satisfactory inspection of 28 US beef processing
facilities, it is to end the 100% testing of all export
consignments and will instead implement a sampling system.
US agriculture secretary Mike Johanns has also welcomed an
announcement from South Korea that it is set to resume the import
of boneless beef. Trade was interrupted earlier this month when US
beef that was intended for the domestic market was re-exported to
South Korea, in violation of an agreement between the
countries.
Perhaps the best news for US ranchers, however, has come from
Malaysia, which is to resume importing bone-in beef from animals of
all ages, in conformity with OIE guidelines for "controlled risk"
countries.
"Science provides us with clear data upon which international
trading standards were built," said Mr Johanns. "All our trading
partners must be mindful of these guidelines and work towards
complying with them."
Latest figures from the US department of agriculture reveal a
14% rise in US beef exports in the first quarter of 2007. The US
Meat Export Federation predicts that exports will return to pre-BSE
levels by 2010.
US cattle ranchers are enjoying brighter prospects as exports
start to recover.
philip.clarke@rbi.co.uk