News

In 2024, Nigeria created the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development to unlock potential in the country’s vast but underdeveloped livestock sector. The Ministry’s leadership has focused on increasing commercial productivity, which may lead to more interest in U.S. live animal, genetics, and animal feed product exports. In December 2024, the United States signed 7 animal health export protocols with Nigeria, creating more opportunities to grow exports given the Ministry’s focus on commercial development, including improving dairy yields, beef production, and animal feed availability.

Source: USDA-FAS Global Agricultural Information Network (Report No. NI2025-0011)

China is one of the biggest importers of American breeding pigs and other livestock genetic material such as cattle semen. These lucrative niche export markets had been growing, but have dried up since the start of the U.S.-China trade war.

Source: Dairy Herd Management, News, Dairy Production, May 22, 2025

USDA, led by its Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, finalized new export health certificates for several animal products in 3 West African countries: Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea (Conakry).  Of interest to USLGE members is that Guinea (Conakry) now accepts live small ruminants, small ruminant semen, and small ruminant embryos from the United States. USDA-FAS GAIN Report SG2025-0007 contains links to relevant health certificates.

Source: USDA-FAS Global Agricultural Information Network (Report No. SG2025-0007)

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins will visit 6 international markets in her first 6 months as Secretary to expand markets and boost U.S. agricultural exports. This year she will visit Vietnam, Japan, India, Peru, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Other USDA trade missions include Hong Kong, the Dominican Republic, Taiwan, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mexico. USDA is working to diversify global markets, strengthen existing markets, and hold existing trading partners accountable for their end of the deal.

Source: USDA-FAS Newsroom, News Release (March 28, 2025)

China is a significant market for U.S. swine genetics; U.S. live (breeding) swine exports to China were valued at $15.7 million in 2023. China produces approximately half the world’s pork and needs to import 5,000 to 10,000 head of purebred swine every year – with an estimated value of $15 to $30 million. U.S. exports of live breeding swine from 2017 to 2024 accounted for 36 percent of China’s live breeding swine imports; France and Denmark were our primary competitors. Swine semen does not currently have market access to China.

Source: USDA-FAS Global Agricultural Information Network (Report No. CA2025-0053)

On March 4, 2025, Canada implemented a 25% tariff on an initial tranche of over $20 billion in imports of goods from the United States, including $5.5 billion worth of agricultural products. The list of products is expected to expand on March 25, 2025, to cover a second tranche of an additional $86 billion worth of imports.

Source: USDA-FAS Global Agricultural Information Network (Report No. CA2025-0015)