US agrees state-level regulation with South Korea
This agreement is expected to significantly reduce negative impacts on trade should another detection of HPAI occur in the US.
It is hoped this action bolster the trade relationship between the United States and South Korea and will prevent a repeat of trade actions taken in 2015 when all US poultry, poultry products and eggs were banned as a result of a detection of HPAI.
Under the new agreement, if there is an HPAI detection in the United States, unaffected states would continue to trade with South Korea.
“Limiting trade restrictions during future HPAI detections to only those states with positive detections will help keep trade flowing,” said Greg Ibach, USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. “The new science-based agreement will allow unaffected U.S. producers to keep poultry, poultry products and eggs going to South Korea. This helps us meet Secretary Perdue’s vision of doing right and feeding the world.”
In 2014, the last full year without any HPAI-related trade restrictions in place, South Korea purchased $122 million in U.S. poultry and products, including eggs, making it the United States’ tenth-largest market. South Korea’s imports from all sources were nearly $426 million in 2017, but only $46 million came from the United States. In August 2017, South Korea lifted its most recent HPAI-related ban on imports of U.S. poultry, poultry products and fresh eggs, imposed in response to an HPAI outbreak in March 2017.
“Trade is critical for the health of American agriculture, and to support vibrant rural economies. Keeping markets open to exports of U.S. poultry is an important part of that story,” said USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney. “This success with South Korea, a top ten market already for poultry products, means we will continue to grow exports to a critical market.”
