In comments submitted to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) urged the agency to exclude animal health products from an investigation of imports of pharmaceuticals and their ingredients.
“Animal health products are critical inputs for pork producers, who use them to diagnose, control and treat diseases,” NPPC says. “Access to those products is essential for animal welfare, productivity and livability, all of which affect producers’ bottom line.”
The Section 232 National Security Investigation is expected to look at, among other factors, the extent to which domestic production of pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients can meet domestic demand, the role of foreign supply chains in meeting U.S. demand, and the feasibility of increasing domestic capacity to reduce import reliance, NPPC says in Capital Update.
“The investigation will determine the impact of current U.S. trade policies on domestic production and imports and whether additional measures, including tariffs or quotas, are necessary to protect national security,” NPPC points out.
NPPC is concerned about actions resulting from the Section 232 investigation that could negatively affect the costs and availability of animal health products, such as the imposition of tariffs.
In its comments to the Commerce Department, NPPC wrote “tariffs on pharmaceutical products would increase already elevated production costs for [a pork] industry working hard to produce an affordable, safe, and nutritious protein for U.S. consumers and many others around the world.”
This comes at a time when many pork producers have not recovered from losses incurred from late 2022 to early 2024. These losses resulted largely from record-high production costs, including high non-feed expenses, NPPC says.
“Those costs, which include labor, utilities, transportation, and veterinary services and supplies, now account for $46 per head, 27% of total estimated production costs for farrow-to-finish hog producers,” NPPC adds.
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