Thursday, February 27, 1997

American Meat Institute says export reports can be more timely

By J.T. SMITH

Farm Editor

As foreign markets for American meat continue to grow, the call for more timely reporting of exports grows louder.

The American Meat Institute in Washington says a new system of reporting could be in place in 90 days.

AMI is recommending a new approach to meat export reporting that will yield more timely data than the government's current methods.

The Institute submitted its suggestions to USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service.

AMI recommended changes in the current export certification program that would would provide producers and packers with estimates of meat and poultry exports in one-tenth of the time now required by government to provide this information.

Hal Shenson, president of H. Shenson International, a San Francisco meat exporter, supports the idea.

"We believe that the recommendations made in our comments will mean much more timely reporting of export information for producers without increasing the burden on meat exporters or providing our competitors around the world with an unfair advantage."

AMI agreed with meat producer groups on the need for more timely export reports, and that accurate information on export shipments is a vital part of a well-functioning and competitive marketplace.

But the Institute cautioned that any new export reporting program for meat should not put U.S. meat exporters at a competitive disadvantage by revealing sensitive trade information to foreign competitors.

AMI suggested that modifications to U.S. export certificates that are currently required for all meat export shipments would provide government the ability to issues estimates of "destination-specific" export volume by species and product category in as little as one week.

Such a program could be in operation in 60 to 90 days, the Institute said.

"A 90 percent improvement in export information turnaround time" could result from streamlined collection of export certificate information with little additional reporting requirements on industry and little added cost to USDA, the Institute said.

AMI said such a move is clearly a superior alternative to the proposed Export Sales Reporting Program.