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Pork trade opportunities abound
With the passage of the Korea, Colombia and Panama Free Trade Agreements, plus, the trade resolution reached with Mexico – U.S. pork producers are excited about the trade possibilities ahead. Nick Giordano, National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) Vice President of International Affairs, calls those agreements “huge victories.” He tells Brownfield – at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention – that the NPPC is using “very credible” numbers projected by Dr. Dermot Hayes of Iowa State showing $770 Million of pork exports created under those agreements, more than 10-thousand direct pork industry jobs and an $11 increase in live hog prices per animal over the 10-year phase-in period.
“My personal feeling, based on all Dr. Hayes’ forecasts – we’ve been working with him since the mid-‘90s – I think the numbers are going to be bigger. He’s very, very conservative.”
Giordano says U.S. hog producers have been very effective in getting Congress to approve the FTAs, “Because they’re so well equipped on the issues and they know exactly how much these trade deals are going to impact their individual – never mind the industry at large – but, they bring it right down to how much they’re going to impact their individual operations.”
Giordano says the NPPC is also excited about the new negotiations of the Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP, that would open up even more markets for US pork producers, especially in Vietnam. The day after Brownfield spoke with Giordano, Japan agreed to join TPP negotiations. Giordano said Japan’s involvement would be “huge” for U.S. pork and “huge” for American agriculture.
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