Source: National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) news release
What happened: China recently approved 23 U.S. pork plants to export product to the Asian nation, following recent trade talks between Washington and Beijing.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) have been working with China’s General Administration of Customs to renew the registrations of U.S. meat and poultry plants and facilities that expired earlier this year. The recent renewals, which also included 83 poultry facilities, apply to product produced after June 11.
The latest plant approvals came just a week after the United States and China agreed to move forward on the May trade deal they reached in Geneva, Switzerland. Export registrations for more than 1,000 U.S. meat plants were granted by China under the 2020 Phase 1 trade deal with the United States, but many expired in February and early March. In mid-March, China renewed the registrations of 300-plus U.S. pork facilities, then suspended renewals as it engaged in a weeks-long tariff tiff with the United States.
NPPC’s take: A win for certainty, NPPC has worked diligently with USDA and USTR to gain this very market access for U.S. pork. Approval of these additional 23 pork processing plants opens further trade opportunities for certain types of U.S. pork products.
Why it matters: China is an important destination for certain types of U.S. pork products, such as offal, that return more value to U.S. producers than they do in other countries. More than 475,000 metric tons of U.S. pork valued at more than $1.1 billion were exported to China in 2024, and about 55% of pork variety meat (offal) exports go to China.
