147 



Mr. Penny. You indicated that meat products were almost half 

 of the U.S. value. 



Mr. Seng. Yes, gross receipts of agriculture. 



Mr. Penny. And the biggest markets would be our immediate 

 neighbors? 



Mr. Seng. The biggest markets I am saying of all gross receipts 

 of all agriculture 



Mr. Penny. No, for processed meet. 



Mr. Seng. Japan, Mexico, and Korea would be our largest export 

 markets. 



Mr. Penny. Largest for the meat products. That is amazing. You 

 also testified that our marketing follow-up suffers from inherent 

 weaknesses. In what way? 



Once we establish a presence in a market, you implied in your 

 testimony that we don't have a very good follow-through. 



Mr. Seng. I think the record shows in most areas today we spend 

 about $7 million in Japan promoting meat exports. This is beef, 

 pork, and lamb. Australia spends about $26 million alone just pro- 

 moting beef. The record shows that if you go back to 1988 with 

 Japan, beef and citrus agreement with Japan, we have a record 

 internationally of opening up markets and then we don't dignify 

 those negotiations with the follow-up marketing programs. 



My point is, when we work so assiduously to open up markets, 

 whether it be GATT, NAFTA, the Japanese market, whatever the 

 case might be, in negotiations we should have the programs, the 

 marketing programs attendant to those negotiations to dignify 

 those negotiations. What happens so often is our competition — and 

 our very worthy competition — comes in and of course they will sup- 

 plant us in those markets we have worked so hard to open up. 



Mr. Penny. Mr. Webster, you talked about hardwood export mar- 

 ket growth. I think specifically you gave us statistics from the 1985 

 and 1992 timeframe. 



Mr. Webster. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Penny. Where is the greatest growth occurring in terms of 

 our export market for hardwood and other wood products. 



Mr. Webster. Primarily Japan, Taiwan, and Western Europe. 



Mr. Penny. Were these finished products. 



Mr. Webster. These are value-added products. These are not 

 logs. These are plywoods, hardwood lumbers, furniture parts, di- 

 mension products that go into kitchen cabinets and so forth. 



Mr. Penny. We have heard from a lot of other processors that we 

 need to be item-specific and brand-specific in our promotion efforts. 

 This is an industry that hasn't opened up markets in that fashion. 



Is that simply because of the unique nature of the wood products 

 industry or do you think that generic promotion is a sufficient area 

 of emphasis for our country? 



Mr. Webster. Well, generic promotion works for wood because 

 most people don't really worry about the name on a sheet of ply- 

 wood or the name on a 2 by 4 or the name on a shipment of hard- 

 wood lumber. 



Our products disappear into another form once they reach their 

 customer. Our industry has never really promoted brand recogni- 

 tion with exceptions of finished products and there are some pub- 

 licly owned companies that promote their brand name. 



