AMI president calls for full restoration of beef tra - leatherbiz: Lea Leatherbiz

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AMI president calls for full restoration of beef trade with Korea

22/03/2007

Speaking to the US House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, American Meat Institute (AMI) president J. Patrick Boyle, stated that full restoration of beef trade with Korea should be a prerequisite for a US-Korean Free Trade Agreement. He said, “The current Korean import requirements for US beef do not come close to a first stage of reopening trade. The beef industry is united and has informed USTR and USDA that they will not support an FTA with Korea if US beef exports are not normalised.”

In his testimony, he told the subcommittee that the US government and beef industry have a proactive track record of BSE prevention and the USA has earned the right to export beef freely under international guidelines set by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). He further detailed the United States’ interlocking safeguards against BSE and expressed frustration with Korea’s inaction in restoring full beef trade.

He added, “The facts are indisputable. No nation acted with as much forethought as the US to prevent a disease, detect it if it existed and control and destroy it if it occurred. Using a surveillance system that far exceeds international guidelines, we have detected only three cases in a 100 million head herd. More importantly, no BSE-related human illness has ever been associated with eating US beef.” “We have earned the right to trade in the international arena under international guidelines.”

Prior to December 2003, Korea represented the USA’s third largest beef export market valued at $750 million, however, the country ceased all US beef imports following the first case of BSE and, in Boyle’s opinion, has been slow to restore full and meaningful beef trade.



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