One year has passed since the red meat trade provisions of the U.S.-China Phase One Economic and Trade Agreement entered into force. The agreement expanded access for U.S. beef and pork in the world’s largest red meat import market. Joel Haggard, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) senior vice president for the Asia Pacific, says the Phase One agreement has been beneficial to U.S. beef and pork producers.
According to USMEF, in 2020 U.S. pork and pork variety meat exports to China were record-large at nearly 1 million metric tons, valued at $2.28 billion. U.S. beef and beef variety meat exports to China were just under 43,000 metric tons, also a new record and up more than 300% from 2019. Beef export value was $310.2 million, a year-over-year increase of 260%.