China Could Reopen Chicken Market to U.S.

U.S. and Chinese trade officials are in talks to reopen China’s market to U.S. chicken exports as they seek to forge a new trade deal, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The negotiations are part of efforts to resolve broader U.S.-China trade disputes over market access, intellectual-property protections and other matters.

If the talks are successful, U.S. meat giants like Sanderson Farms Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and Tyson Foods Inc. could begin to recover some of the business in China, a key market that represented hundreds of millions of dollars in annual sales before a ban was implemented in 2015 in response to an outbreak of avian flu in the U.S.

China’s immense appetite for chicken feet, along with dark meat and other products less popular among Western consumers, has made the loss of that market particularly painful for chicken processors.  Source: Wall Street Journal