US meat sector blasts S. Korea for rejecting beef
Source: Reuters
(Adds comment from USDA in paragraphs 7,8) By Missy Ryan WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - U.S. beef producers and packers on Friday excoriated South Korea for rejecting a second shipment of U.S. beef, accusing Seoul of stalling a week before talks on a proposed free trade deal. The Koreans "were never really interested in opening the market," said John Reddington, vice president for trade at the American Meat Institute. Officials in Seoul earlier said they had rejected a shipment of U.S. beef that contained bone fragments. They acted a week after the first shipment from a U.S. plant since 2003 was rejected for the same reason. Seoul's decision to bar imports from two out of three U.S. plants currently exporting to Korea mark a shaky restart for meat trade with the Asian nation. U.S. imports had been banned since the first U.S. case of mad cow disease in 2003. U.S. and South Korean officials are to meet next week in Montana, a major beef-producing state, to continue talks for a planned deal that would boost U.S. trade with the world's 11th-largest economy. Officials in Seoul say trade will continue from some U.S. plants, but add that they will bar all U.S. beef if materials like brains, spinal cords or nervous tissues are found. In Washington, the official reaction has been angry. U.S. Agriculture Department chief spokeswoman Terri Teuber said in a statement the United States will continue to work with South Korea to establish "reasonable standards and tolerances" for trading beef. "Their actions are obstructing trade and signal to us that for all intents and purposes, their market is closed to U.S. beef," said Teuber. Jay Truitt, head of the association's Washington office of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, said the shipping and inspection restrictions would cost $160 million to $170 million a year for a market that is now worth $400 million. "At some point, it's almost impossible to make it work," he said. South Korea accepts only boneless beef from cattle up to 30 months of age. In the past, it purchased ribs and other bone-in products. The Cattlemen are pressing U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush, to step up their response. "South Korea's continued embargo of U.S. beef proves their roots in protectionism show little sign of dissolving," NCBA President Mike John said in a letter to Bush, asking him to get involved personally in the dispute. The meat industry also warns that the rejections bode poorly for the upcoming talks in Big Sky, Montana, which have moved more slowly than trade officials originally hoped. Truitt said a free-trade deal was meaningless if Korea was unwilling to accept U.S. products. "There is no way NCBA is going to accept an FTA (Free Trade Agreement with South Korea) if there is no meaningful beef trade," he said. "The Koreans understand that trade needs to flow before the talks advance much further," Reddington said. Sen. Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who is set to head the influential Senate Finance Committee, said there was no scientific basis for Korea to shut out American beef, but said that time was running out for the talks. "We need big breakthroughs in this Big Sky round," he said. South Korea was the third-largest market for U.S. beef before it closed its market. (Additional reporting by Charles Abbott and Christopher Doering)
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
