Weekly Overview: US, Canadian Pork Industry Welcomes TPP Trade Deal

The TPP agreement covers a whopping 40 per cent of world GDP and one third of global trade, with its member countries being Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States, and Vietnam.

The agreement aims to promote economic growth, support the creation and retention of jobs, enhance innovation, productivity and competitiveness and reduce poverty. It's ultimate goal is to create open trade and integration across the region.

The agreement will bring opportunities to US pork as some current tariffs will be cut. Vietnamese tariffs, for example, which can be as high as 34 per cent will be eliminated in five to 10 years. Similarly, Malaysia will cut all tariffs within 15 years.

In Japan, duties on more than 65 per cent of tariff lines will be eliminated within 11 years and on nearly 80 per cent within 16 years. Gate-price-specific duty will also be reduced from 482 yen/kg
to 50 yen/kg in 11 years.

The US National Pork Producers Council expressed their confidence that the TPP agreement will benefit all sectors of the US economy and will provide enormous new market opportunities for high-quality American pork products.

Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes, said the TPP agreement could be “the most important commercial opportunity ever for US pork producers,” and estimated that a good outcome for pork in the trade pact could increase US pork exports over time exponentially and help create more than 10,000 US jobs tied to those exports.

The agreement was also welcomed by the Canadian Pork Coucil (CPC). Rick Bergmann, Chair of the CPC, stated that the agreement will put Canada in a strong negotiating position and secures Canada's ability to export pork to Japan on fully competitive terms with the US and other TPP pork-exporting countries.

In disease news, more African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks have been reported in Estonia and Latvia.

Fourteen new outbreaks were reported in wild boar in Latvia and 21 outbreaks in Estonia, also in wild boar.