China lifts ban on U.S. poultry imports, exciting Delmarva producers

China has made the decision to lift its ban on poultry imports, providing welcomed news for Delmarva’s poultry industry.

“The opening of Chinese markets has been something that we have been looking forward to for a number of years,” said Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Michael T. Scuse. “The ability to export poultry to China will help our producers here on Delmarva and across the United States.”

According to the 2017 USDA Agriculture Census, 734 family farms in Delaware produced more than 52 million chickens and other poultry for meat production.

Cathy Bassett, Director of Communications for Mountaire Farms, said this development is fantastic news for Delmarva’s poultry industry and that chicken feet are a huge product in China which Mountaire Farms is excited to supply moving forward.

“This is the news we’ve been waiting for,” Bassett said. “This is great news for Delmarva and great news for the companies on Delmarva. Mountaire Farms exports to over 50 countries around the world, and exports to China have been banned since 2014. This is going to be tremendous and there’s a huge market there. Chicken paws, which are the feet of the chicken, that’s a huge product for China. We’re just happy to have the news that it will open up some markets and it’s just fantastic.”

Poultry production generates nearly $3.4 billion dollars of economic impact on Delmarva.