After Opening Border To Canadian Cattle, U.S. Knocking On Mexico's Door: Official
9/25/2007 6:18:00 AM
After Opening Border To Canadian Cattle, U.S. Knocking On Mexico's Door: Official
As USDA waits out the 60 days before its final rule normalizing cattle trade with Canada takes effect, the agency says it's soliciting Mexico for similar concessions with regard to U.S. beef breeding cattle and beef products from older animals.
"We've already started the process [of establishing dates for talks with Mexico]," Chuck Lambert, USDA's deputy under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs, told Meatingplace.com during an interview in Washington.
Mexico is the largest market for U.S. beef products, importing more than 370,000 metric tons of beef with a value exceeding $1 billion in 2006. However, Mexico's border has been closed to breeding cattle and beef products from animals older than 30 months of age since the first U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy occurred in 2003.
"Our objective is to have them do everything for us that we have done for Canada," Lambert said. (See U.S. reopens border to older Canadian cattle on Meatingplace.com, Sept. 14, 2007.)
USDA's rule also clears the way for Mexico to import Canadian breeding cattle. Mexico has long sought to purchase Canadian breeding cattle and have them trans-shipped across the United States. However, doing so before the United States opened its border to Canada could have jeopardized Mexico's exports of feeder cattle back into the United States, Lambert explained.
Meanwhile, in the interest of harmonizing trade relations, Mexico has largely blocked U.S. breeder stock while it's been unable to import Canadian breeders.
"We will continue to have discussions with Mexico as the Canadian rule becomes effective in terms of harmonizing there as well," Lambert said.
All this should be good news for U.S. breeders, particularly in southern border states such as Texas. One such breeder points out that an influx of improved genetics from the United States to Mexico translates into increased feed efficiency and quality grades in the feeder cattle that Mexico exports right back across the border to the tune of about one million head a year.
By Janie Gabbett on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 For Meatingplace.com.
9/25/2007 6:18:00 AM
After Opening Border To Canadian Cattle, U.S. Knocking On Mexico's Door: Official
As USDA waits out the 60 days before its final rule normalizing cattle trade with Canada takes effect, the agency says it's soliciting Mexico for similar concessions with regard to U.S. beef breeding cattle and beef products from older animals.
"We've already started the process [of establishing dates for talks with Mexico]," Chuck Lambert, USDA's deputy under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs, told Meatingplace.com during an interview in Washington.
Mexico is the largest market for U.S. beef products, importing more than 370,000 metric tons of beef with a value exceeding $1 billion in 2006. However, Mexico's border has been closed to breeding cattle and beef products from animals older than 30 months of age since the first U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy occurred in 2003.
"Our objective is to have them do everything for us that we have done for Canada," Lambert said. (See U.S. reopens border to older Canadian cattle on Meatingplace.com, Sept. 14, 2007.)
USDA's rule also clears the way for Mexico to import Canadian breeding cattle. Mexico has long sought to purchase Canadian breeding cattle and have them trans-shipped across the United States. However, doing so before the United States opened its border to Canada could have jeopardized Mexico's exports of feeder cattle back into the United States, Lambert explained.
Meanwhile, in the interest of harmonizing trade relations, Mexico has largely blocked U.S. breeder stock while it's been unable to import Canadian breeders.
"We will continue to have discussions with Mexico as the Canadian rule becomes effective in terms of harmonizing there as well," Lambert said.
All this should be good news for U.S. breeders, particularly in southern border states such as Texas. One such breeder points out that an influx of improved genetics from the United States to Mexico translates into increased feed efficiency and quality grades in the feeder cattle that Mexico exports right back across the border to the tune of about one million head a year.
By Janie Gabbett on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 For Meatingplace.com.