Poultry industry encourages passing of CAFTA trade deal
GEORGIA - Georgia poultry producers, processors and allied industry companies strongly support Congressional approval of the United States-Central American/Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement.We believe CAFTA-DR will provide significant new opportunities for Georgia agricultural products and will be good for jobs and family farms in Georgia, especially for those of us who are in animal agriculture.
Under the existing arrangements, our poultry exports to the CAFTA-DR countries are subject to high import tariffs. Even so, last year we sold $55 million in poultry to these six countries. CAFTA-DR will convert the tariffs to tariff-rate quotas that are much more favorable and, more importantly, will be eliminated over a period of time.
Under this more favorable arrangement, exports of U.S. poultry meat are expected to grow steadily in the years ahead. Sales are expected to double over the next several years.
The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates that CAFTA-DR will result in $178 million in increased poultry export sales. As the leading state in broiler production, with about one-seventh of all production in the U.S., Georgia will have a significant share in the benefits of increased trade under CAFTA-DR.
Source: gainesvilletimes.com
18 July 2005
1 minute read
