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-----Original Message-----
From: Shae Dodson [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 1:15 PM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: Kiker's Op-Ed on Beef Imports Used in Parts of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Article.


Hi Folks,

Cristal at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette incorporated part of Chuck's Op-Ed on Beef Imports into this piece published on Sunday.

Graphs/Charts follow the text.

Thanks,
Shae

Publication:Arkansas Democrat-Gazette;
Date: Sunday, April 16, 2006 ;
Section:Business;
Page:87




(Uses portions of Chuck Kiker's Op-Ed Dated April 10, 2006)



More foreign foods turning up on dinner tables in U.S.

Imports of agricultural goods expected to rise 10%



BY CRISTAL CODY ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Americans are growing hungrier for Australian beef, Canadian pork, Chilean plums and Mexican tomatoes.

Agricultural imports are expected to rise 10 percent this year to a record $63.5 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Americans ate little imported food in the 1980s, but today they consume many foods from the country's top importers - Canada, Mexico and the European Union, along with the People's Republic of China. Those countries make up about 60 percent of U.S. agricultural imports, up from 30 percent in the 1980s, the USDA said.

Driving the growth is demand for fresh fruits and vegetables, beef, sugar, cocoa, coffee, beer and wine.

"Food is the third-largest sector of our members," said Phillip Byrd, director general of the American Importers Association, a Safety Harbor, Fla.-based trade group that links foreign exporters with American importers.

The group has 14,000 U.S. members whose top import products are apparel, electronics and machinery, he said.

"Food seems to be different from most other sectors," Byrd said. "China is a bulldozer going over every other country in the world in terms of giftware, leather, clothing, electronics - virtually everything except for the sector of food. We Americans like food from so many different places." Americans bought beef in January from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Croatia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, the USDA reported.

Chile was approved in December to export meat after U.S. officials conducted on-site reviews of the country's inspection system.

Vietnam sold Americans catfish, while China provided crawfish and mollusks, and Canada and New Zealand shipped mussels, according to the USDA.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, works with U.S. and foreign importers for food items, including seafood.

Wal-Mart spokesman Karen Burk said she was unable to provide the percentage of imports among food items sold by the company.

"Seafood is very much a seasonal item so there is a need for imported product in order for us to meet the demand of our customers year-round," Burk said. "Some of the popular items we're seeing in the seafood category is cooked shrimp, wild salmon and tilapia." Springdale-based Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat company with operations in more than a dozen countries, does not import any beef, pork or chicken, company spokesman Gary Mickelson said.

Canada shipped the United States more than 30,000 metric tons of pork in January, up 2 percent from a year ago.

Israel, Mexico and Canada sent U.S. distributors 1,039 metric tons of poultry in the second week of February, according to the government.

China is awaiting U.S. approval to ship processed poultry and poultry products.

Richard Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council, which represents most of the chicken companies in the United States, said the U.S. poultry industry won't be affected by Chinese chicken imports.

"There's so many conditions on it that we just don't think it's going to amount to very much," Lobb said. "The product would have to be fully cooked and shelf-stable. That basically brings it down to canned goods of some kind." Canada is the only country that exports fresh chicken to the United States, he said.

Thirty-five countries are approved to ship meat and poultry to the United States, with only seven - Australia, Canada, France, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand and the United Kingdom - allowed to ship poultry, according to the USDA.

U.S. trade sanctions prohibit most imports from Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Serbia and Sudan.

In the latest government reports, only three countries are exporting poultry to the United States.

All imported products must meet U.S. government standards, such as limiting beef shipments to cattle under 30 months of age to prevent cases of mad-cow disease, according to the USDA.

The United States is the world's largest beef importer, with imports of 1.58 million metric tons of beef per year, according to USDA trade reports.

"We've been the largest beef importer for years, mainly due to our need for manufactured beef that goes into hamburger, while our beef supply goes into higher value products," said John Reddington, vice president of international trade for the American Meat Institute.

U.S. distributors imported 93,743 metric tons of beef in January, nearly 21 percent more beef than was imported at the same time last year. A quarter of it came from Australia, according to the USDA.



"Processed-beef imports, as well as imports of live foreign cattle, are being used to satisfy the ever-growing U.S. appetite for beef," said Chuck Kiker, president of R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America), a trade group with membership of more than 18,000 cattle producers in 47 states.

Brazil is the largest U.S. supplier of canned corned beef, with 252 metric tons imported for the week of Feb. 5-11, according to a USDA trade report.

Australia exported 23,565 metric tons of beef to the United States in January, up from 5,441 metric tons in the same period last year, the USDA said. New Zealand shipped U.S. clients 18,092 metric tons of beef, up from 17,087 metric tons in the same period last year.

However, some take issue with the USDA's Australia import figures.

Laurie Bryant, executive director of the Meat Importers Council of America, said he believes, based on U.S. Customs data, that Australia shipped 10,566 tons of beef in January, up from 6,918 tons last year.

Australian and New Zealand beef, leaner than American beef because cattle are raised on grass instead of grain, are popular among U.S. distributors because, "We weren't able to procure Canadian beef, so we were sourcing from Australia and New Zealand," said Janet Riley, spokesman for the American Meat Institute.

A two-year U.S. ban on Canadian cattle imports because of mad-cow disease was lifted in July. More than 60 countries banned American beef after the first U.S. case of mad-cow disease was discovered in 2003 in Washington state in a cow that was born in Canada.

Canada is expected to ship about 1 million head of cattle to the United States this year, up from 212,000 in fiscal 2005.

The number of U.S. imports of all cattle and calves also is expected to nearly double, from 1.5 million head in fiscal 2005 to about 2.2 million head this year, the USDA said.

"Unless Congress takes immediate action to implement Country-of-Origin Labeling so consumers have the right to choose either U.S. beef or foreign beef, producers will not be able to compete against these soaring imports," Kiker said in a statement.

"Consumers need to be fully aware that when they see the USDA inspection stamp on beef, that mark does not mean the beef is of U.S. origin."
SOURCE: United States Department of Agriculture Arkansas Democrat-Gazette



Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BOB COLEMAN Chinese tilapia, Chilean orange roughy and Icelandic cod fill a case at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rogers.



SOURCE: U.S. Department of Agriculture Arkansas Democrat-Gazette





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