China May Fully Resume Beef Imports

Randall Weiseman Beef, Cattle, Livestock

Raw beef hanging in a trackChina could fully resume imports of U.S. beef soon after halting the imports in 2003 because of mad cow disease. The U.S. Meat Export Federation predicts China will open the market fully by mid-year, as reported by Bloomberg. USMEF CEO Philip Seng made those comments last week. After the 2003 halt of beef imports, China lifted the ban on some boneless products in 2006. China is already the biggest U.S. agriculture export customer and beef imports from 2010 to 2015 increased more than 10-fold on increasing consumption. According to market analysts, any increase in U.S. beef demand would likely provide cattle prices a boost following the recent declines on increased cattle inventories and overall protein supplies.