Chicago/Beijing (Reuters) .- Hundreds of American meat plants that were given access to China in a “phase 1” commercial agreement of 2020 with President Donald Trump will lose eligibility to export on Sunday, which threatens approximately 5,000 million dollars in trade to the world’s largest meat market in the middle of a renewed commercial war.
Losing access to China would be a new blow to American farmers after Beijing imposed at the beginning of this month retaliation tariffs on approximately 21,000 million pm in US agricultural products, including a 10% tax on pork imports, beef and US dairy products.
Beijing demands that food exporters register in customs to sell in China. The records of almost 1,000 beef plants, pork and poultry, including some ownership of Tyson Foods and Cargill, are scheduled to expire on Sunday, according to records of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Chinese customs data. That represents approximately two thirds of all existing records.
The companies refused to comment or did not answer the questions of Reuters.
China has not responded to repeated requests from US agencies to renew plants records, said USDA in a report last week, which potentially violates an obligation under the agreement of phase 1.
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The records of about 84 plants expired in February and, although shipments from the affected plants continue to pass customs, the industry does not know for how much Chinese time will allow imports.
“The risk of sending products with an imminent expiration date is high,” said Joe Schuele, spokesman for the US Meat Federation to Reuters.
“The situation is certainly serious if (the records of) these plants are not renewed. The situation has the attention of all exporters, ”added Schuele.
The USDA has made these expirations a priority in discussions with Beijing, he added.
The port of Shanghai has also imposed more strict inspections and documentation for US meat charges, the federation told its members in a bulletin seen by Reuters, with some containers subject to a complete discharge and inspection, which increases the processing time and additional rates.
To be clear, there are no signs that suggest that Beijing is imposing a total prohibition. Several hundred plants have renewed their records until 2028 or 2029, according to a high diplomat based in Beijing.
The US was the third largest meat supplier in China last year, after Brazil and Argentina, representing 590,000 tons or 9% of the total imports.
The USDA and the US Commerce Representative’s office did not answer Reuters questions on Thursday. The Ministry of Commerce of China and the Customs Department did not answer the questions sent by Fax.
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The China Ministry of Foreign Affairs redirected the questions to other agencies without naming any.
The commercial agreement of “Phase 1”, signed in 2020, ended the First Commercial War between the US and China with Beijing’s promise to increase their purchases of US goods and services, including meat, for 200,000 million in two years. China did not reach the goal, which remembered shortly before the pandemic exploded.
That year, 1,124 beef processing plants, birds and pork, or logistics facilities, were registered in Chinese customs for export, according to USDA, obtaining access to the largest importer of meat in the world. Today there are 1,842 certified facilities, but there will be a little less than half if this Sunday’s records expire.
China is obliged under the agreement of phase 1 to review its list of plants approved within 20 days after receiving the updated lists of the USDA Food Inspection and Safety Service, according to the Meat Institute, an industrial group of US meat processors. It is not clear if current delays constitute a violation of the agreement.
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The potential impact of expired licenses could amount to 4,130 million for the beef industry and 1.3 billion for the pig, according to the US Meat Export Federation in a daily bulletin.
The loss of access to China would be a particularly hard blow for parts exporters such as chicken legs and pork spoils, which are consumed less nationwide.
With Reuters information
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