WTO RULES IN FAVOR OF U.S. BEEF INDUSTRY

WASHINGTON D.C. (August 8, 2000) - A recent World Trade Organization ruling against Korea’s import regime could give the U.S. cattle industry a chance to expand beef demand in that market, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said today. 

Korea is currently the No. 3 export market for U.S. beef.

The WTO ruled last week that Korea’s import regime distributed imported beef in a manner meant to suppress sales. The panel also found that Korea’s excessive subsidies to its cattle producers violate that country’s reduction commitments on domestic support.

The decision is an opportunity for U.S. beef producers because under Korea's WTO schedule it is required to end its current quota on imported beef at the end of this year. Korea imports about 202,000 metric tons of beef each year, and nearly half of that is from the United States.

The ruling also indicates that WTO dispute resolution procedures can work for the United States and U.S. cattle producers.

“We’ve said and will continue to maintain that in order for free and fair trade to work, all countries have to abide by international trade rules,” said Dana Hauck, a cattle producer from Delphos, Kan., and chairman of the beef industry International Markets Committee. “We are pleased with the WTO ruling.”

The case began about a year and a half ago when the United States requested WTO dispute settlement consultations with Korea. In April 1999, the WTO formed a panel to review the case after Australia joined the complaint.

The panel found that Korea’s requirement that imported beef and domestic beef be sold in separate retail stores is inconsistent with its obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The requirement has excluded imported beef from about 90 percent of the 50,000 retail outlets in Korea.

“We look forward to an opportunity to expand demand for our product in Korea,” Hauck said.

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Producer-directed and consumer-focused, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association is the  trade association of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.