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Cattle producers celebrate U.S.-Japan trade agreement
Cattle producers and industry supporters are celebrating the finalization of the U.S.-Japan trade deal.
“That big news—that’s very good news,” says Rabo AgriFinance meat industry analyst Don Close. “This year, because of the 12 to 13 percent tariff disadvantage that the U.S. had to Australia and New Zealand, it has definitely had a negative impact on the volume of sales of U.S. product to Japan.”
Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association, says the agreement will level the playing field. He says it
will get the U.S. back to where it was before the CP-TPP agreement went into
effect.
“Whether it really accelerates additional volumes
is yet to be seen,” Woodall says. “But we do know that any time you see a price
reduction, you’re going to sell more product. So we expect that we will see
more product going to Japan.”
Brownfield spoke with Close and Woodall at the annual meeting of Nebraska Cattlemen in Kearney.
