US farmer buoyed by China's huge beef market

ATLANTIC, Iowa — A trip to China in February has boosted the confidence of Bill Pellett, a farmer in the US state of Iowa, in selling more of his farm's prime beef to Chinese customers.

During his one-week stay in China, Pellett met with representatives from seven to 10 different companies that have plans for importing US beef, including a hotel chain and JD.com, a major online retailer in China.

"We talked a lot about the quality and the safety of the product and tried to give as many insurances that this was the safest product from anywhere in the world. I think that's important to the Chinese people," Pellett said.

Last June, Pellett's beef was in the first boxes of US beef shipped to China shortly after the United States and China reached a deal to reopen the Chinese market to US beef. The beef was shipped by Pellett's exporter Greater Omaha Packing Co.

China banned US beef in December 2003 after the mad cow disease struck US cattle. Before the ban, the US used to be China's top foreign supplier of beef.

Although Pellett's foreign clients are primarily European nations, including Germany, Italy and Switzerland, he sees good potential of expanding business with China.

"There will be a slow building of the demand for our product because of the quality and the health insurances," he said, highlighting the need to change the way their beef is presented and make it better fit the Chinese lifestyle and customs.

Though only a small quantity is being exported to China, the US beef is "something that will gain popularity as time goes on", Pellett said.

He is now feeding around 900 head of cattle on his farm while growing hundreds of acres of corn and soybeans in the Midwestern state. A portion of the grain will hopefully make its way into the Chinese market someday, he said.

During his first and only trip to China, Pellett visited Beijing and Shanghai, and had a chance to travel on a high-speed train.

He was amazed by what he saw. "I was very impressed by the infrastructure because I did not expect it to be as good as it was. Just the ability and the potential of the country was very, very surprising to me," he said.

XINHUA