International Egg and Poultry Review - By the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service - This is a weekly report looking at international developments concerning the poultry industry, this week looking at the Middle East.

U.S. Free Trade Agreements in the Middle East

The United States and Oman completed negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement on October 3, 2005. Oman will provide immediate dutyfree access for U.S. agriculture exports in 87 percent of agricultural tariff lines. Oman is the fifth Middle Eastern country to have negotiated a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, following agreements with Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain.

The U.S.-Israeli FTA was enacted in 1985 and Congress implemented an FTA with Jordan in 2001. The U.S. signed an FTA with Morocco in 2004, which was approved by the U.S. Congress in 2005, and should go into effect January 2006. The Bahrain FTA is working its way through the Congress.

The U.S. is also negotiating an FTA with the United Arab Emirates and has signed eight Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFA) with Middle East nations. The Governments of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates form the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The GCC enacted a universal UCL (Unified Customs Law and Single Customs Tariff) for its members in January 2003.
Source: Office of the United States Trade Representative, USDA Foreign Agricultual Service

U.S. Shell Egg and Egg Products Exports

U.S. exports of shell eggs and egg products rose to 103.2 million dozen during the first 6 months of 2005 compared with 61.6 million dozen during the same period in 2004. Lower shell egg prices, the lifting of restrictions imposed by many countries following outbreaks of AI in the U.S. in 2004, and some trade diversions following outbreaks of AI in several Asian countries all led to higher U.S. exports for the first half of this year.

Processed egg products exports grew 125 percent, compared to a 37- percent increase for shell-egg exports (hatching and table eggs). Exports of processed egg products (in-shell egg equivalent) to Asia rose from 6.7 to 25.4, with 80 percent going to Japan. U.S. processed eggs shipped to the Philippines rose from 1,700 dozen in the first 6 months of 2004 to 349,000 dozen in 2005.

Table egg exports increased 71 percent while hatching egg shipments rose 9 percent. During the first 6 months of 2004, the major share of U.S. table egg exports went to Canada (71 percent). But this share decreased to 40 percent in 2005, while Asian countries’ shares rose from 23 to 29 percent.

Hong Kong was the largest export market for U.S. table eggs, receiving 11.4 million dozen in 2005, up from 3.9 million in the first 6 months of 2004. U.S. table-egg shipments to Japan also increased to 3.1 million dozen during the first half of 2005, compared with only 37,000 dozen in all of 2003, and none in all of 2004. This U.S. table-egg shipment constitutes the largest export quantity to Japan in a 15-year period for a first-half year.

U.S. table-egg exports to China were up to 856,000 dozens in the first half of 2005, compared with 354,000 in the first half of 2004. Likewise, table-egg exports to Latin America and the Caribbean increased nearly fourfold, reaching about 2 million dozen during the same time. U.S. hatching egg exports were up 8 percent in the first half of 2005 compared with the same period a year earlier. Traditionally, most hatching eggs were exported to NAFTA countries. However, in 2005, shipments to Latin American countries exceeded those to NAFTA countries (41 versus 37 percent of U.S. total hatching egg exports). The shift was mainly due to exceptionally large shipments to Brazil, 2.3 million dozen compared to 390,000 for the same period in 2004.

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Source: USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service - 11th October 2005