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 China currently requires third party verification that U.S. pork
shipped to the country is free of the additive ractopamine, which is
sold for hog farm use under the name Paylean.
Pork packing plants now ineligible to export to China include Tyson
Foods plants in Perry and Storm Lake, Iowa, along with the company's
facility in Logansport, Indiana.
Other processors listed included a Hormel Foods Corp plant in
Fremont, Nebraska, Triumph Foods in St. Joseph, Missouri. and
Quality Pork Processors, Inc in Austin, Minnesota.
Tyson, Hormel and Triumph have not so far replied to requests for
comment.
In 2013, U.S. pork exports to China totaled 312,138 tonnes, valued
at $645.3 million, according to the Global Trade Atlas. Overall pork
exports worldwide last year totaled 7.5 million tonnes valued at
$20.4 billion.
"China is by far the world's largest pork producer and consumer.
Therefore, it is really not possible to make projections about how
certain events, such as plant delistings, will impact U.S. exports
to China," said U.S. Meat Export Federation spokesman Joe Schuele.
Last week, Russia slapped a one-year ban on meat, including pork,
from the West in retaliation for sanctions imposed for its support
of rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Plants owned by Smithfield Foods, Inc, a subsidiary of Chinese pork
giant WH Group and a major exporter of Paylean-free pork to China,
also found themselves drawn into the Russian meat ban.
Since early this year, two Smithfield plants have been the only U.S.
slaughterhouses allowed to export pork to Russia, following a
blanket ban on U.S. exports last year owing to ractopamine.
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Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures for October delivery ended
Tuesday's session down by a maximum 3-cents per lb daily price
limit.
Futures' losses were largely attributed to lower prices of
slaughter-ready hogs, pressured by softening wholesale pork demand
and sufficient numbers of heavyweight animals, said traders and
analysts.
Dan Vaught, economist with St. Louis-based Doane Advisory Services,
said that while cutbacks in Chinese pork purchases were not
supportive of U.S. market prices, the impact could be tempered by
demand both at home and from other buyers.
"This has been an ongoing issue and doesn't seem likely to have that
big of an impact given the persistent strength in domestic demand,"
he said, adding there was also continuing strong buying from four of
the U.S. major export customers Japan, South Korea, Canada and
Mexico.
(Reporting by Theopolis Waters and Meredith Davis in Chicago)
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