Colombia trade deal would help US pork: officials

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - U.S. pork producers believe passage of the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) would help boost exports in a time of falling profits.

And U.S. officials told producers attending a National Pork Industry Forum that removing duties on U.S. products to that South American country would result in substantial benefits to their industry.

"Last year the U.S. sold only $6.6 million worth of pork loins to Colombia and yet it is the second-largest Spanish-speaking market in Latin America," Chris Padilla, the U.S. Commerce Department's undersecretary for international trade, told pork producers. "It (CTPA) rectifies what is currently an unbalanced and one-way free trade relationship."

Currently, Colombia's imports enter the U.S. duty-free while there is a 20 percent to 30 percent duty on U.S. exports to Colombia. The agreement would eliminate many of those duties.

"Ninety-two percent of Colombian imports currently enter the United Sates completely duty-free -- it's been that way for 16 years," Padilla said.

U.S. pork producers are searching for more countries to sell their products to as their profits evaporate due to surging feed costs and a record supply of hogs.

Under the terms of CTPA, duties on some pork and pork products would be eliminated immediately while the tariffs on others would be phased out over a five-year period, allowing U.S. pork to be sold at more favorable prices in Colombian markets.

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) said the Colombian agreement, when fully implemented, would result in a significant increase in exports and cause live U.S. hog prices to rise $1.63 per head.

Passage of the deal, however, has been delayed due to concern over protection of union leaders in Colombia. The Bush administration has been reluctant to present the agreement to Congress because of concern it will not pass.

"Our understanding of the delay is that Congress, particularly the Democratic leadership, is still concerned that Colombia and President Uribe are not addressing the violence against labor union leaders," NPPC spokesman Dave Warner said.

Demand for U.S. pork has been quite strong and is expected to remain that way for some time. Opening more markets or removing export obstacles would even increase that demand.

"Pork consumption continues to rise here at home and abroad, and in a growing number of nations American pork is what they are looking for," Lloyd Day, Agricultural Marketing Service administrator for the USDA, told producers.

Day noted that the increasing world population, expected to reach 7.5 billion people in the year 2020, will continue to represent a greater part of U.S. pork demand.

"In your industry alone growth in exports have been spectacular. Last year was the 16th year in a row that you broke records and we expect this record-breaking to continue," he said.

U.S. pork exports reached nearly 2.9 billion pounds in 2007, a 3 percent increase over the previous year. USDA is also estimating U.S. pork exports will be 900 million pounds in the first quarter of 2008, a 14 percent gain over the first quarter of 2007. For all of 2008, the estimated total shoots up to 3.7 billion pounds, a 16 percent jump over the 2007 pace.

South Korea is another country that a free trade agreement would result in increased exports of U.S. pork. But that agreement is also being delayed due to disagreements.