OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (RFD NEWS) — China is renewing plant registrations for U.S. beef facilities following last week’s trade discussions, a move the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) is calling a major breakthrough for the American beef industry.
The agreement restores momentum for U.S. beef exports into China after many plant registrations began expiring in 2025, limiting access to one of the world’s largest protein markets.
Dan Halstrom, President and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, joined us on Tuesday’s Market Day Report from the organization’s Spring Conference in Oklahoma City to discuss the latest developments surrounding beef access in China and what it could mean for producers moving forward.
In his conversation with RFD News, Halstrom discussed efforts to restore U.S. beef access in China and outlined details surrounding the registration extension for hundreds of U.S. beef facilities, and shared his outlook on the potential impact of China reopening to U.S. beef imports.
Halstrom also provided an update from the U.S. Meat Export Federation’s Spring Conference in Oklahoma City, where discussions focused on the current state of global beef, pork, and lamb exports and the outlook for international demand.
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USMEF Vice President of Communications Joe Schuele told the Oklahoma Farm Report that the issue dates back to the expiration timeline tied to the Phase One trade agreement.
“The plant registration started to expire in March of 2025, and that was kind of the five-year anniversary of the phase one agreement, when most U.S. plants went ahead and decided to become active in the China market,” Schuele explains. “And then, those plants, gradually over the course of 2025 — more and more — became ineligible because their registration had expired.”
Schuele said some facilities have also been suspended over what China describes as technical violations, though U.S. industry leaders argue the actions do not align with international standards.
“We have some issues with that because we feel that China’s not following international standards, and they’re not following reasonable standards before they delist these plants,” he said. “But those suspensions do represent a pretty significant share of our total production.”
According to USMEF, nearly half of U.S. beef production still faces additional hurdles before becoming fully eligible for export to China. Facilities impacted by suspensions will still need to complete corrective actions before access is fully restored.
Despite those remaining challenges, Schuele says the renewed registrations are already helping improve product availability for customers in China and strengthening broader export demand across Asia.
“It’s going to come as a big relief to the customers in China who have not had access to the product,” he said. “You basically had almost nothing that was eligible for China except pipeline products that were produced before a specific plant’s registration expired.”
Schuele added that China’s return to the market could increase value for cuts that are especially popular throughout Asia, including short plates, chuck rolls, and short ribs: “Simply having China back in the market, that’s going to add value to every cut that we ship to Asia, regardless of the destination.”
