May 25, 2013

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Iowa beef industry faces challenges to expand exports

May 6, 2013 By
Steve Rehder (right) learns about the popularity of U.S. beef skirt steaks in a Mexico City Costco store.

Steve Rehder (right) learns about the popularity of U.S. beef skirt steaks in a Mexico City Costco store.

The number of cows being raised for beef in Iowa is at its lowest level in 60 years, but producers are expecting to add to their herds as the drought eases.

Iowa beef producer Steve Rehder of Hawarden says Iowa should continue to pursue new markets despite the current situation.

Rehder represented the Iowa Beef Industry Council last month as part of an Iowa meat trade mission to Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras. He says there are some big challenges for Iowa beef in the latter two countries.

“The biggest issue is the price of beef and we informed them, because of low numbers, that’ll be an issue for quite a while,” Rehder said.

“Our inventory of cattle is the lowest it’s been since 1952 and coincidentally, Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras are enduring the same problem.”

The six-day trip in April marked the first time a representative of the Iowa Beef Industry Council has visited El Salvador and Honduras. Rehder noted the countries are already importing high quality beef for the people who can afford it.

“As far as increasing the market for the more poverty stricken people, that’s where we need the price of beef to come down a little bit so it can be more competitive,” Rehder said. “The infrastructure is there and I really believe…we have the opportunity to increase exports down to those countries.”

During the trade mission, the Iowa delegation toured processing plants and retail supermarkets. Rehder said many of the people he met are hoping to attend the World Beef Expo in Wisconsin in late September.

“I plan on being there and meeting up with a few of them again. Just making contact and having people from Iowa come down to see them…they were really impressed by that,” Rehder said. The Central American Free Trade Agreement allows U.S. Choice and Prime beef to enter both El Salvador and Honduras without a tariff, because it does not compete with their own grass-fed beef.

Filed Under: Agriculture, News Tagged With: ,

Governor Branstad talks from China about trade trip

April 17, 2013 By
Governor Terry Branstad. (file photo)

Governor Terry Branstad. (file photo)

Governor Terry Branstad spoke with reporters today  from the Hebei Province in China where he is on a trade mission with an Iowa delegation and three other governors.

Branstad says the meetings have been very productive, but he stopped short of making any announcement of new trade agreements.

“I anticipate that when we get back in the weeks and months ahead that there will be specific announcements that’ll be made. But we’re not ready to make an announcement at this time. But there are a lot of prospects I think as a result of this,” Branstad says.

The governor met with China President Xi Jinping and continued the relationship started when Xi first visited Iowa nearly 30 years ago as a lower level official as part of the sister state agreement with China.

Branstad says he will make some announcements later on plans for celebrating the 30th anniversary of that sister state agreement.

The governor says they visited the Agricultural University in the province and the Great Wall automotive plant. Branstad says the plant makes cars, trucks and SUV’s — with production of one-thousand vehicles a day.

“A very impressive facility and the president is a woman. And she’s been the president for 15 years and the company is only 22 years old,” according to Branstad. “It’s a pretty impressive, they showed us their facilities where they test for crashes. We also went through on carts and saw the production. The production is very mechanized, very clean, very efficient.”

The group is in China at a time when tension is high with North Korea. Branstad says he did not talk about the issue, but U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, has been in China during their trip.

“And I know he did meet with president Xi Jinping, so I’m sure that issue came up during their discussion. Basically as state governors and provincial governors we really don’t deal with foreign policy, so that issue did not come up,” Branstad says.

One other thing the governor says the Iowa delegation has not done is go sightseeing. “No, this has all been focused on business, so we didn’t go to the Great Wall or the Forbidden City. We’ve done some of those things in the past. But this was all business, a very short trip,” Branstad says.

It was just after 10 o’clock in the evening when Branstad spoke with reporters just after nine a-m Iowa time. The delegation returns to Iowa Thursday.

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Iowa trade delegation preparing for trip to Vietnam, Philippines

February 20, 2013 By

An Iowa trade delegation will leave for Vietnam Friday in hopes of boosting exports. The executive director of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Rich Degner, will be on the trip and says they already have massive pork sales abroad.

“We have pork packing plants all across the state of Iowa and almost all of them are involved in exporting. We don’t talk about it a great publicly, but there’s $1.5-billion of pork being exported globally from Iowa. That’s a lot of pork,” Degner says. The pork delegates have scheduled in-country briefings and will survey everything from traditional markets to the gourmet and hotel industries.

The Japanese buy more Iowa pork than any other country, and Degner says there is a lot of room for growth in Vietnam. “The Asian community they’re great friends of ours because they like pork, we have quite a bit of room for growth, hopefully as the TPP the Trans Pacific Partnership comes about we can increase our trade with Vietnam,” Degner says.

Along with the pork, the Iowans will try to market other agricultural products and used trucks. Iowa Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds will lead the 10-day trade mission of about 20 business and state officials.

The delegation will also size up new business opportunities in the Philippines before returning home next month.

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Iowa seen as key in Pacific trade talks

August 31, 2012 By

Talks resume next week on an international free trade agreement which a key American diplomat says could be vital to maintaining and creating jobs in Iowa. Ambassador and former U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barchefsky says the Trans-Pacific Partnership would protect innovation and what’s known as intellectual property in a host of industries, including I-T and biotechnology.

Barchefsky says, “Iowa is a very, very important state in this regard with $5-billion of economic output in your state coming from the biopharmaceutical industry alone.” The trade agreement includes the U.S., Canada and Mexico, along with Australia, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

In an interview with Radio Iowa, Barchefsky says Iowa’s exports to the Asia-Pacific nations in 2009 exceeded eight-billion dollars and included everything from grain and pork to farm implements. “Almost 2,500 companies exported from Iowa, 82% of those are small and medium-sized firms with less than 500 employees,” Barchefsky says. “This is spectacular performance.”

Barchefsky, who was the chief trade negotiator and principal trade policymaker for the United States from 1997 to 2001, says international corporate giants in the tech world, like Apple or Google, often start with just two or three people and an idea that’s nurtured and is allowed to grow.

“Iowa excels in this kind of activity so an agreement that encourages and protects that kind of activity is very, very important,” she says. “An agreement that supports machinery exports, agriculture exports, chemicals, areas where again Iowa excels, becomes very, very important.”

While the multi-nation free trade agreement has been in negotiations for several years, off and on, Barchesky says it could have a significant impact at the state and local level. “Iowa’s exports in the first half of this year increased 22%,” she says. “The national average is 7%, so you guys, on the export side, are going gangbusters. What we want though, what Iowans and all of us should want, is to amp that up even further.”

The trade talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership are returning to the U.S., resuming on September 6th in Virginia.

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Des Moines mayor heading to China

June 19, 2012 By

The mayor of Iowa’s largest city is headed to the world’s largest country. Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie leaves this morning, bound for China. “I’m going over with other mayors from around the United States,” Cownie says.

“We’re going to have a small delegation. We’re going to meet with mayors of China and we’re going to talk about…Chinese investment in the United States and U.S. goods into China and how best do we facilitate that.” Just one percent of American businesses currently are in the export business and Cownie says that means it could be an area of real growth for the American economy.

“There’s people around the world that love American products, love American goods, love American commodities,” Cownie says. “…85 percent of the demand in the world is outside of the United States and so we make great products. There’s a great attitude for it and I think that we want to export.”

Cownie met earlier this year in Des Moines with the mayor of Iowa’s sister city in China. Cownie believes the Chinese have a special interest in the financial services companies that are based in Des Moines, but he’s hoping to come up with leads for other companies that do not already have trade ties with China.

“And give them an opportunity to expand their business into an area that maybe they’ve never even considered,” Cownie says. Cownie describes the trip as a “whirlwind” as he’ll have meetings in China on Wednesday and Thursday, then board a plane Friday for the return trip to Iowa.

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Governor’s delegation meets with several companies in China

June 1, 2012 By

Debbie Durham with the Governor and Lt. Governor. (file photo)

Governor Terry Branstad is describing his latest trip to China as “very productive.” A delegation of around 20 Iowans are in the middle of a week-long visit to China.

Branstad, who spoke with Radio Iowa by phone this morning from Beijing, said he’s met with several companies that are interested in making direct investments in Iowa. “Especially in the area of biosciences and food processing,” Branstad said.

 ”We’ve also met with a company that’s involved in wind energy and they’ve put a couple of wind turbines in Nevada, Iowa and they’re looking at possibly making additional investments in the state.”

The governor said interest among Chinese business leaders in expanding in Iowa has grown “dramatically” since Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s visit to Iowa back in February. This is the third trip to China for Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority.

“I’ve been very encouraged by the reception we’ve had this time,” Durham said. “We’re meeting with chief decision makers of companies and really have seen a much greater focus this time on direct investment.” Branstad expects officials from several companies based in China to visit Iowa soon, including one such visit planned for next week.

The governor declined to identify the company or provide details about what they might do in Iowa. “This is a company that has some real interest in the Midwest. They’ve already done some business in the United States and we’re exploring some other opportunities,” Branstad said. Earlier this week, the governor attended a ribbon-cutting for a new Vermeer manufacturing plant in Beijing.

Vermeer is based in Pella. Branstad will meet with Vice-President Xi and China’s minister of agriculture this weekend.

Audio: RI interview with Governor 5:05.

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Governor plans trade mission to Brazil, Chile

May 1, 2012 By

Governor Terry Branstad. (file photo)

Iowa’s governor has scheduled a trade mission to South America this summer. Governor Terry Branstad will visit Brazil and Chile in late July.

According to the governor’s office, Brazil is Iowa’s sixth-largest trading partner. Last year Iowa exported more than $527 million worth of commodities and products to Brazil, a 50% increase over the previous year.

Chile imported more than $88 million of Iowa goods in 2011. In a written statement, Branstad said his visit to Brazil and Chile “will help Iowa companies in expanding their markets outside of the U.S., which will lead to more jobs here at home.”

In Brazil, the trade delegation will visit Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre. In Chile, the delegation will stop in Santiago, the country’s largest city and its capital.

State officials plan to invite executives from Iowa businesses that hope to expand trade ties in the two countries to go on the trip. The trade delegation will leave July 21st and return the 28th.

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