Poultry & Meat

Guatemala to Remove Tariffs on US Chicken Imports

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The government of Guatemala has agreed to lift all import tariffs on bone-in chicken parts imported from the United States. According to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), this comes four-and-a-half years ahead of schedule.

The Stone Mountain, Georgia-based USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USAPEEC) applauded the announcement.

“We are most pleased to see this increased level access for bone-in chicken leg meat to Guatemala, which has been one of our fastest growing export markets,” said USAPEEC President Jim Sumner. “We appreciate USTR’s support of this acceleration of our CAFTA agreement provisions.”

The decision means that the 12.5% tariff will be eliminated on an existing annual tariff rate quota (TRQ) of 1,000 metric tons of frozen, fresh and chilled chicken leg quarters from the United States.

“This notable achievement for US poultry exporters is a result of negotiations that USTR commenced in February of 2017,” the USTR announced made on April 3. “This market opening benefits US poultry exporters and expands trade for agriculture producers.”

Both the tariff and the TRQ will be completely eliminated on January 1, 2022.

The US shipped $82 million worth of poultry to Guatemala last year, making it the sixth largest export market for American producers, according to government data.