Market News & Headlines >> Tyson Chicken Plants Approved By China

Tyson Foods Inc has received approval from U.S. and Chinese authorities to export American poultry to China from all 36 of its U.S. processing plants and expects to begin taking orders early next year, a chief supply chain officer for the company told Reuters News Service. 

U.S. chicken companies are eager to resume sales in China after Beijing last month lifted a nearly five-year ban on imports as Chinese consumers seek pork alternatives with the country’s hog herd down sharply due to African swine fever. 

Beijing had banned U.S. poultry and eggs in January 2015 over a U.S. outbreak of avian flu, closing a market that bought $500 million worth of American poultry products in 2013, according to USDA. 

Increased Chinese purchases of products like chicken feet, wing tips and legs would help increase U.S. agricultural exports to China as the two countries negotiate a trade deal. 

"There's an extreme amount of interest across all those parts from multiple buyers in China," Bernie Adcock, Tyson Foods' chief supply chain officer for poultry, said in an interview on Friday. The U.S. Trade Representative last month projected more than $1 billion in annual poultry shipments to China.