Chinese Markets Remain Open To US Dairy Products
US - China has granted the US 30 days to work with Chinese authorities to secure agreement on a new health certificate for food-grade dairy exports to China.
4 May 2010
2 minute read
On April 21 the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) sent a letter to the US government notifying them that due to the lack of an agreed-upon health certificate, China planned to no longer accept US food-grade dairy products as of May 1. There had been no ongoing discussions related to an inadequacy of US certification language prior to the notification.
Swift action by the Foreign Agriculture Service, in close coordination with the US Trade Representative’s Office (USTR), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed the market to remain open and enable trade to continue to flow uninterrupted.
The US dairy industry exports billions of dollars of dairy products all around the world; foreign sales last year totaled $2.3 billion. As global trade is one of the most critical components of our industry today, policies that maintain and grow returns to US dairy sector, play a critical role.
The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), the US Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) indicated their intent to work closely with the US government to ensure successful resolution of this issue over the course of the next month and urged attention to the need for careful coordination among the relevant US agencies in order to secure agreement on new certificate language during this period.
TheCattleSite News Desk
