The United States and China have signed a memorandum of understanding that the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) says will pave the way for substantially increasing U.S. dairy exports.
The action creates new, sizeable opportunities for dairy farmers and processors and the milk, cheese, infant formula and ingredients they produce.
“China is already the world’s largest dairy importer, even though per capita consumption remains far below that of the U.S., Europe and even its Asian neighbors like Japan and South Korea,” Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), said. “The potential to increase exports there is tremendous.”
China is already the third-largest foreign export market for U.S. dairy products, according to the USDEC. The U.S. shipped $384 million of dairy exports to China last year, behind Mexico and Canada.
The agreement will give immediate clearance for 80 U.S. processors to begin shipping milk to China, according to Agri-Pulse. But it could also open the door for more than 200 U.S. dairy exporters to get the certification they need to start shipping to China.
Vilsack told Brownfield Ag News the agreement outlines how U.S. dairy facilities will be audited to make sure they comply with Chinese food safety requirements.
“Certainly, the Chinese are concerned about the safety of dairy products, and so they are reassured about the safety of what they get from the U.S.,” Vilsack said.
USDEC and the National Milk Producers Federation say more than two years of negotiations with both governments led to the agreement.
Both countries have agreed to a system that will allow third-party certification companies to audit U.S. dairy facilities to make sure they comply with Chinese food-safety requirements, according to the USDEC.
“There was never a question of U.S. product safety,” USDEC said in a statement. “It was more a question of compliance with regulations between two countries with rigid regulatory systems.”
Dairy exporters that were not shipping to China before their 2014 “Decree 145” were blocked from sending products until the facilities could be certified to meet Chinese food safety standards.
The new memorandum provides a much needed long-term solution. It will allow third-party safety certification of U.S. dairy processing plants that will then be allowed to send dairy products to China.