After many months of discussions between U.S. and Chinese officials and a push by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) to resolve outstanding trade issues with China, U.S. cattle producers are ready to return to this growing market. Beef leaders are hopeful that today's scheduled meeting between President George Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao will yield positive results on the prospect of beef exports to China.

“All signs indicate that significant progress is being made with regard to beef trade,” says NCBA Chief Economist Gregg Doud.

Following last week's meeting of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), China committed to reopening its market to U.S. beef exports and addressing a number of other trade concerns, reports an NCBA news release. This was welcome news to U.S. cattle producers who have been shut out of the Chinese market since December 23, 2003, when the U.S. announced its first-ever case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a Canadian-born cow. U.S. and Chinese officials have scheduled a technical discussion for mid-May to outline the terms upon which trade will resume.

Senior White House officials say the beef issue will most likely be discussed during today's scheduled Bush-Hu meeting. Earlier this month, President Bush said he will press President Hu to use fairer trade practices and mentioned U.S. beef as one of the areas of concern. “We believe that we grow pretty good crops and grow good beef,” the President said. “Perhaps it's in their interest to open up their markets to our agricultural products.”

“In 2003, China was one of our top-10 markets selling over 12,000 metric tons of beef valued at over $28 million,” says Doud. “But what's important to U.S. cattle producers is the huge potential that market holds. With around 1.4 billion folks in China, including about 300 million middle-class consumers, there is no other place on earth that holds the potential that China does for our business.”