Tyson Foods and other companies have been cleared to export chicken products to China, ending a four-year-old ban.
Tyson’s stock rose 2% Dec. 17 on the news that all 36 of its processing plants can resume sending product to China. Sanderson Farms, Pilgrim’s Pride and others companies have also been cleared to ship to China.
An outbreak of avian flu led China to ban all chicken and eggs from the United States in 2015. The ban had a profound effect on the American poultry market, especially since China was a customer for chicken feet, wing tips and other parts for which domestic demand is small or nonexistent.
China has an incentive to ease U.S. import bans because an outbreak of African Swine Fever has wiped out nearly half its hog herd, driving up the price of its primary source of protein. This situation puts China at a disadvantage in the trade war that it has been waging with the Trump administration.
China and the U.S. recently reached a preliminary agreement that would scale back China’s tariffs on American agricultural goods in exchange for the U.S. reducing and delaying its tariffs on Chinese imports. U.S. trade representatives say that the agreement will lead to an increase of up to $50 billion in Chinese purchases of American farm goods, but some observers are skeptical of that claim.
