The Government of Mexico announced this week that it has partially lifted its ban on U.S poultry. Mexico will resume importing U.S. poultry from 14 states that it banned during the U.S. outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza last year. A ban on poultry from Indiana is still in place.
“Mexico is an extremely important export market for U.S. chicken, so the lifting of these bans is not only welcome news for US chicken producers, but for Mexican consumers, as well. We want to thank those at USDA, USTR and in Congress who have been working hard to reopen these markets and fight for a regionalization approach to these trade issues,” said Tom Super, NCC’s senior vice president of communications.
Indiana reported in January this year 10 cases of avian influenza in commercial turkey flocks. One of the cases reported was confirmed to be highly pathogenic H7N8 avian influenza. The other eight cases were low pathogenic H7N8. No other states have reported positive cases of avian influenza in commercial flocks since June 2015.
Fresh and frozen poultry products derived from chicken originating from, slaughtered, or processed from the following states will now be cleared for export to Mexico: Arkansas, California, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Mexico has been the largest market for U.S. poultry and poultry products since 2010. In 2015, U.S. exports of poultry and poultry products to Mexico reached $1.2 billion, accounting for 25 percent of total U.S. shipments, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said in a statement. Mexico’s action is a result of “close communications with Mexico to reduce trade restrictions imposed due to HPAI detections in the United States. By persuading other trading partners to enforce regionalized bans that affect only those areas where HPAI was detected and to rely on internationally accepted, science-based standards for trade, USDA has helped preserve billions in U.S. poultry exports,” Secretary Vilsack said.
