South Korea lifts ban on US poultry
South Korea has lifted its ban on US poultry and poultry products and will allow eggs to enter the country duty free due to a shortage of domestic supplies.
The move, predicted by Poultry World, follows the US notification to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on 11 August that it was free from high pathogenic avian influenza.
Outbreak of AI spurred poultry ban
South Korea imposed the US ban in response to the outbreak of HPAI in Tennessee earlier this year.
Limiting future import restrictions
US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said officials were working with counterparts in Korea towards limiting any future import restrictions to the affected area, consistent with OIE guidelines.
“The United States has the strongest avian influenza surveillance programme in the world and we were at once able to quickly identify, confine and control this most recent disease outbreak.
“Our hope is that Korean officials will recognise that our system works and will move towards a regional approach in the event of any future findings of bird flu.
“South Korea is one of our best trading partners, and we want to continue being the most dependable supplier of high-quality food and farm products. Korea’s lifting of its most recent ban is an important move for our poultry and egg industries, but it is still just the first step.”
2014: Last full year of unbroken trade
The last full year without any HPAI-related trade restrictions was in 2014 when South Korea purchased $122m US poultry products, including eggs, making it the US’ tenth largest market.
South Korea imported $350m in 2016 but just $39m came from the US. So far this year, the US has exported just $12m.
Join 31,000+ subscribers
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about all the need-to-know content in the poultry sector, three times a week.
