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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (1201)	10/31/2003 7:07:04 PM
From: RealMuLan	Respond to of 6370

China Threat To US Ag (10/31/2003) CHICAGO (OsterDowJones) -- Expressing concern about several agricultural trade and economic issues related to China, the American Farm Bureau Federation today told Congress that the administration must be ready to vigorously defend U.S. farmers, industries and businesses against what he called unfair practices by China. Testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee on behalf of the Farm Bureau, Charles Kruse, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau and a member of the AFBF Board, said in a press release that China presents a great opportunity for U.S. agriculture. But, he said, that nation also represents a substantial threat to American producers of corn, vegetables, fruits, nuts, soymeal, pork, sugar and confections, food ingredients and rice. "In many respects China is a developing country, yet, it has become a dominant producer and a world-class exporter of many agricultural products ..." Kruse said. "Moreover, it has established or is in the process of establishing preferential or free-trade agreements with several current and very important customers of U.S. agricultural products in the Asia- Pacific region." Kruse said that China has the ability to have an impact on more than $16 billion of annual U.S agricultural exports - more than 29% of the U.S. total. Kruse noted that China's current monetary policy of pegging the yuan to the dollar hurts U.S. agriculture. He said AFBF strongly supports negotiations that urge China to reform its monetary policy to be more market- driven. If negotiations do not work, however, Kruse said AFBF would support imposition of import duties on Chinese products, especially if "it is determined that China's system of monetary management is non-compliant with its obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization." Kruse also noted that although U.S. agricultural exports to China have increased since 1998, significant barriers to further imports of many U.S. agricultural products remain. The most obvious of these barriers is China's system of tariff rate quotas, which makes importing U.S. products difficult for Chinese buyers. China's use of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) "violations" to block the unloading of cargoes that allegedly failed SPS inspections is another area that needs reform, Kruse said. (CZ) hpj.com