Press Release - Great Falls Tribune Editorial Board: "US Beef Exports to China Will Be Good for Montana"

"China's ban on U.S. beef imports meant that the entire time former Montana Sen. Max Baucus was the Ambassador to China, from 2014 to earlier this year, he could not get a steak from a U.S.-raised cow in China. The persistence of many paid off and now Montana ranchers and our state's economy will benefit. We owe them all thanks."

US beef exports to China will be good for Montana

Editorial

Great Falls (MT) Tribune

June 21, 2017

China's 1.4 billion people will buy about $2.5 billion in beef this year.

Next month for the first time in about 14 years, U.S. cattle producers will have access to that market.

...

The news is good for Montana's $1.78 billion cattle industry. Montana's ranchers are mostly cow-calf operations, with calves sold to feedlots, where they are finished before they are harvested and the beef is processed. Wider markets for that beef generally means better markets for the cow-calf producer.

Trade deals are long and complicated. China's ban on U.S. beef imports meant that the entire time former Montana Sen. Max Baucus was the Ambassador to China, from 2014 to earlier this year, he could not get a steak from a U.S.-raised cow in China.

The persistence of many paid off and now Montana ranchers and our state's economy will benefit.

We owe them all thanks.

Read the full editorial here.