Agri News, MN
06-12-07
Pork producer leaders stress importance of exports
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
Agri News staff writer
DES MOINES -- Pork producers' profits the past three years have been due in
large part to exports, and the National Pork Producers Council wants to make
sure those opportunities continue.
NPPC President Jill Appell, an Altona, Ill., pork producer, said at last week's
World Pork Expo that U.S. pork producers ship about 15 percent of the pork they
produce overseas annually. Since 1989, U.S. pork exports have increased from
$394 million to $2.6 billion due to access to free trade agreements.
"The bottom line for U.S. pork producers is that today we receive $33.60 more
per hog marketed because of exports," Appell said.
NPPC last week sent a letter to every member of Congress urging them to
support free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, Peru and Panama.
The deals will eliminate tariffs and barriers to trade that limit U.S. pork producers.
Appell said the free trade agreement with South Korea is the most important. The
country is the fourth-largest export market for U.S. pork. The agreement would
give U.S. pork producers preference over other pork trading countries.
Appell said research by Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes
shows that when fully implemented, the South Korean free trade agreement
would raise live hog prices by $10 per pig.
Hayes' research shows that the Colombian agreement would boost prices by
$1.63. The Peru agreement would add 83 cents to pork prices and the Panama
agreement would add 20 cents.
"While some of these agreements are less significant than others, they are all
additional profit for producers," Appell said. "NPPC and its members are working
hard to make sure all these agreements are passed."
Nick Giordano, international trade counsel for NPPC, said the Peru and Panama
deals could pass yet this summer. Colombia has issues related to labor that need
to be ironed out, and South Korea will present the most difficulty due to issues
surrounding the resumption of U.S. beef trade and autos.
"It's really unbelievable what the Korean free trade agreement will do in the
market," Giordano said. "I see it as a defining moment for the industry. It will
create incredible opportunity for growth."
At the World Pork Expo, the NPPC board of directors also adopted a resolution
calling for comprehensive reforms to U.S. immigration policy. The board voted to
support Sen. Edward Kennedy's bill to overhaul the nation's immigration system.
The Massachusetts Democrat's bill would tighten security at the borders, provide
the 12 million undocumented aliens now in the country a path to citizenship,
create a new visa for temporary workers and require employers to check the
legal status of all employees through an enhanced immigration database.
"Pork producers need immigration reform so that they have access to a stable
work force," Appell said. "We need workers in packing plants and on farms, and
comprehensive immigration reform can address the pork industry's needs."
Joy Phillippi, a Bruning, Neb., producer who chairs the NPPC farm bill task force,
said NPPC opposes efforts in the Energy Savings Act of 2007 to mandate
additional ethanol production.
"We want to make sure we don't overproduce and shorten the feed supply,"
Phillippi said. "We don't want too much of our feed supply used in renewable
fuels at this time."