Asia
Vilsack to travel to Asia to strengthen markets for U.S. ag
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today plans to travel to Vietnam and China in mid-November to help strengthen bilateral trade relations and support the American brand throughout the Asia Pacific region.
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South Korea receives export credits
U.S. pork and other agricultural entities are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to sell more product to South Korea now that the free-trade agreement is signed. That prospect moved even closer as USDA authorized $673 million in credit guarantees.
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Lawmakers seek tougher stance on China trade
House lawmakers united Tuesday in demanding that the administration do more to stop China's "predatory" trade practices that have devastated American industries and put Americans out of work. They differed on whether Congress should act on legislation to punish China for keeping its currency artificially low.
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Walmart reopens 13 China stores after pork controversy
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Tuesday reopened 13 of its stores in a southwestern Chinese city after they were ordered shut for 15 days over the mislabeling of tons of regular pork as “organic,” state media reported.
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Brazilian pork will head to China in 2012
Brazil is back in China’s market as the first shipments of Brazilian pork are expected to start moving in early 2012. Some authorized production companies can export the meat starting in November, according to an official with the Brazilian Association of Pork Meat Producers.
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Chinese govt desperate to see Zhongpin and AgFeed succeed
China's pork imports have skyrocketed this year as rising feed costs, increasing wages and concerns about more outbreaks of disease has made Chinese producers reluctant to boost output. Favorable government subsidies are expected to benefit large-scale producers in the future, and encourage them to boost production.
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USMEF draws attention to undervalued pork cut
Pork is the world’s most consumed meat and the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) is working to broaden that demand further. In November, the federation will focus on promoting the undervalued pork cut-- the pork butt.
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President of Wal-Mart China leaves post
According to officials of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. the president of Wal-Mart China is stepping down. A Wal-Mart spokesperson contends the action is not related to a Chinese government food-safety case under investigation against several stores in the country.
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Export attention turns to Thailand
There’s no shortage of global markets to investigate for potential U.S. pork sales and most recently, Nick Giordano, National Pork Producers Council vice president and counsel for international affairs travelled to Thailand. The goal was to visit with government officials to discuss Thailand’s restrictions on U.S. pork exports.
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AGree video promotes collaborative dialogue, policy
A new series of micro-documentary films released today by AGree underscores the complexity of our food and agriculture system and stresses the need to find common ground on food and agriculture issues.
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Political motives seen in Wal-Mart's China trouble
Wal-Mart is getting another public bludgeoning in China as popular anger over food safety makes the retail giant an easy target for political point scoring ahead of a central government leadership shuffle.
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