September 13

The U.S. cattle industry is positioned to continue its current trend of higher profits and increased consumer demand, National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) CEO Chuck Schroeder said Tuesday. Schroeder spoke to reporters while visiting Washington to lobby on behalf of cattle producers.

"Although Congress is in its final months, we're not done yet," Schroeder said. "There are still several key issues, such as PNTR for China and disaster relief for cattle producers, that have to be wrapped up before lawmakers leave town. These issues are key to the cattle industry's future."

The Senate is expected to vote as early as Thursday whether to grant permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) for China. NCBA has been a proponent of this legislation from day one because it will open the world's most populous market to U.S. beef producers, Schroeder said. "Because this would foster a drop in tariffs on U.S. beef from 45% to 12% over five years, we're projecting exponential growth in beef exports to China over the same period," Schroeder said.

Schroeder also outlined regulatory issues that NCBA is following, such as carousel retaliation, ensuring that the U.S. cattle herd is protected from foreign animal diseases, working with USDA to solve some beef purchasing problems with the school lunch program, the final rule on mandatory price reporting, and a proposal to end the use of the USDA quality grade on imported beef carcass.