Samantha McLeod (L), executive director of Georgia Pecan Growers Association, speaks during an interview with Xinhua in Tifton, Georgia, the United States, Oct. 24, 2019. U.S. pecan growers said they hope the United States and China would resolve their trade dispute to allow exports to return to normal. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
by Xinhua writers Liu Yanan, Wang Wen, Zhang Yichi
NEW YORK, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. pecan growers said they hope the United States and China would resolve their trade dispute to allow exports to return to normal.
"We hope those (U.S.-China trade disputes) will be addressed soon," Janice Dees, executive director of U.S. Pecan Growers Council said in a recent interview with Xinhua.
Dees said the United States needs to reach an agreement with China, as the tariffs are negatively affecting U.S. pecan growers.
"We feel like that things will (be) resolved ... These discussions are a little longer than we had hoped," said Dees, adding that the Pecan Growers Council represents around 10,000 pecan growers across the country.
"The exports have been curbed due to the tariff issues," Dees said.
U.S. pecan export to China are subject to around 47 percent tariffs up from 7 percent in early 2018, according to the Pecan Report, a publication covering the global pecan market.
Samantha McLeod, executive director of Georgia Pecan Growers Association, told Xinhua that a lot of pecan growers still have good relations with their Chinese partners, and they are waiting for tariffs to be lifted.
Before U.S.-China trade ties sour in 2018, China was the biggest overseas consumer of U.S. pecans.
"The industry itself hopes that pecans are part of phase-one (trade deal) ... We do realize that at least there has been some positive movement. So we are trying to be patient as we can, be as creative as we can and move our product as best as we can," said Dees.
"I hope more progress is going to happen. We're all hoping that they can work it out," said McLeod, noting that the association has around 400 pecan growers from Georgia as its members.
Dees said U.S. pecan industry attaches importance to China. "We look forward to going back to doing business very soon."
"It would be wonderful if we could just have free trade around the world," Dees said.
According to Dees, some U.S. sates like Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama export most of their pecan output to China.
