Michigan’s pork industry could suffer financially due to increased tariffs on US imports to China. The changes were announced Monday for three billion dollars’ worth of US imports.
The move affects nearly 130 products including a number of pork products. About 25-percent of pork produced in the US goes to export markets.
Mary Kelpinski is CEO of the Michigan Pork Producers Association. She says Michigan sends about two-point-five million pigs to market each year
“Over one in four pigs that’s produced is going to the export market. So whether they come out of Michigan or whether they come out of another state, it increases the demand for pork across the country.”
Kelpinski says a 25-percent increase in tariffs for pork products could negatively affect some of Michigan’s two-thousand pig farms.
China’s announcement also included increased tariffs on two other Michigan crops...apples and cherries.
However...Michigan growers say they currently don’t export either fruit to China.