Quick action by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has resolved an issue that temporarily stopped U.S. poultry product exports to Colombia.
Colombia’s Ministry of Agriculture instructed all of their ports to deny import permits to any poultry products beginning June 1 on concerns of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Roughly $1.1 million in U.S. exports were impacted by the ban between June 3 and June 8.
But FAS, APHIS, and USTR worked to leverage our free trade agreement to pressure Colombian officials to lift the ban. Plus, USDA staff in Colombia directed U.S. companies, Colombian importers, local trade associations, and State Department Economic officials to communicate the impact of the ban on bilateral relations with Colombia’s Ministries of Agriculture and Trade.
These efforts brought a reversal on the ban to fruition on June 8. Colombia’s resumption of issuing import permits recognized the 2012 regionalization agreement side-letter between USTR and the Colombian government, which established provisions for mitigating the spread of HPAI.
The team effort ensured that the U.S. recovered a market that accounted for more than $100 million in 2022, our 10th largest market for these products.