Representatives of China’s agriculture ministry and animal quarantine and inspection service are set to visit U.S. poultry facilities next month to see how U.S. producers fight avian influenza. It will be the first such visit since China imposed a ban on U.S. poultry imports in 2015 as a result of an avian influenza outbreak in the United States. Another Chinese delegation is scheduled to visit the United States in September.
The ban has cut off a major market for U.S. chicken, particulary for chicken feet, frustrating the U.S. chicken industry particularly since only a handful of highly pathogenic avian influenza cases has been detected in chickens since last year .
In 2014, U.S. poultry exports to China totaled $315.4 million, including $94.6 million worth of chicken feet. Last month, China agreed to resume U.S. beef import, after blocking shipments since 2003. “We’re hoping that after the September visit that the lift the ban entirely,” said Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council.
