US hopes for meaty profits if exports to China resume

Nation's appetite for beef has increased in decade since restriction implemented

Indications that US beef exports to China may resume this year after a decade-long ban positions American farmers and ranchers for a big windfall, a beef industry economist said.

"China would add significantly to the portfolio of US beef export markets," Erin Borror, an economist with the US Meat Export Federation in Colorado, told China Daily on Monday.