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The United States concluded free trade negotiations with Korea on April 1,
2007. The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) is the most commercially
significant free trade agreement the United States has negotiated in nearly 20
years.
The KORUS FTA provides immediate elimination of duties on more than 60
percent of current U.S. exports and gives U.S. exporters improved access to the
Korean market for many of the products that have been highly protected. The U.S.
International Trade Commission estimates that annual U.S. agricultural exports
to Korea will increase by a minimum of $1.9 billion upon full implementation of
the agreement.
The agreement eliminates tariffs and other barriers on most agricultural
products, increasing export opportunities for a range of Mississippi’s
agricultural products, including poultry, cotton, soybeans, and beef.
Mississippi’s agricultural exports to all countries, estimated at $950 million
in 2006, supported about 11,200 jobs, on and off the
farm. These export sales make an important contribution to the Mississippi farm
economy, which had total cash receipts of $3.8 billion in 2006.
Poultry and Egg Products. Mississippi is the nation’s fifth largest
exporter of poultry and poultry products and broilers are the state’s leading
source of cash receipts, accounting for $1.8 billion, or 47 percent of total
farm sales, in 2006. Mississippi’s poultry producers and processors will benefit
from this FTA.
Korea’s tariffs of 18 to 27 percent on frozen
leg quarters, frozen breasts and wings, and frozen turkey cuts, will be
phased out in 7 to 12 years.
As the number 2 market for U.S. egg products,
Korea’s tariffs of 27 percent on egg products, including egg yolks, will be
phased out in 12 equal annual reductions.
Cotton. The Mississippi cotton industry, with $554 million in farm cash
receipts in 2006, will benefit from this agreement.
The FTA will lock in the duty-free access
being enjoyed by U.S. cotton exporters. This permanent access allows U.S.
cotton exports to continue to compete on a level playing field with Korea’s
other trading partners.
Soybeans and Products. Soybeans are Mississippi’s third largest
agricultural export and cash receipts from soybeans were $290 million in 2006.
Mississippi soybean producers will benefit from this agreement.
The greatest potential benefit for the
soybean sector is likely to come from improved access to Korea’s 300,000-ton
market for food-quality soybeans. Korea has agreed to immediately eliminate
its 5-percent tariff on food-use soybeans.
Korea will establish a duty-free quota
starting at 10,000 tons for identity-preserved soybeans for food use (the
production of soybean curd). This quota will operate outside the current
state trading entity, which has charged a reported $250 per ton markup on
soybean imports supplied to soybean curd processors. (For comparison, based
on trade data, Korea’s average 2006 import price for soybeans used for food
was $330 per ton. This markup brings the price for imported quality beans to
$580.)
Korean tariffs on imports of crude soybean
oil (the majority of Korea’s soybean oil imports) will decline from the
current 5.4-percent tariff over 10 years. Refined oil tariff rates will
decline from the current 5.4 percent in five equal annual reductions.
Korea’s 3-percent tariff on soybean flour and meal will immediately go to
zero.
Beef. The state’s cattle and calf industry generated cash receipts of
$206 million in 2006 and ranchers will benefit from this agreement.
For beef muscle meats, the FTA provides a
15-year straight-line tariff phase out with a safeguard that begins growing
from 270,000 tons, a quantity that is 17 percent larger than our largest
historical shipments.
Technical consultations continue toward the
goal of allowing imports to take place consistent with World Organization
for Animal Health (OIE) guidelines.
Following the May 2007 decision by the OIE
classifying the United States as a controlled-risk country, Korea has
announced that it will undertake in a timely manner its regulatory process
toward expansion of market access for beef and beef products.
