May 7, 2014
China re-opens market on Virginia chicken imports
After a seven-year ban, Governor Terry McAuliffe announced that China has lifted the ban on poultry imports from Virginia.
Last year, a delegation from Chinese regulatory agencies made site visits in Virginia, inspecting farm and food safety protocols and testing.
The ban, put in place since 2007, was initiated by one case of avian influenza which was reported on a single farm in Virginia. The lifting of ban will open up Virginia poultry producers to an additional US$20 million in annual exports.
"This is outstanding news for Virgina's poultry industry and the many related businesses that work to move product from our family farms into the global marketplace," McAuliffe said. "This will also bring enormous business benefits to the Port of Virginia at a critical time for that entity."
China is one of the top foreign markets for US poultry, purchasing more than US$416 million from US producers last year.
Virginia Secretary of Agriculture Todd Haymore says China is a good market for otherwise low-value chicken parts in the US.
Virginia's poultry industry has annual revenue of about US$950 million, accounting for more than 30% of Virginia's agriculture industry.