Building on a robust first-half performance, July exports of U.S. pork continued to outpace year-ago levels, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). July pork exports totaled 219,014 metric tons (mt), up 5% year-over-year, while export value increased 1% to $628.7 million. USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom said pork export growth has been driven by market diversification.
“It’s really more broad-based in Latin America than just Mexico,” Halstrom said. “Central America had a very good month from a variety of markets, so as a region, you know, up about 23% in the month of July for Central America. But you look at Canada had a good month, Taiwan, and Oceania region with Australia, we’ve seen large, large shifts there. Part of it is a shift away from Europe, part of it’s just a rebound in demand. On the China side, numbers are up. It’s not because of muscle meats. Muscle meats, there’s some volume going but it’s nothing to get too excited about, but on the variety meats side we are on a record pace And the exciting thing on the variety meats side is that some of the premiums there over the rest of the world are amazing, especially on things like front feet and hind feet. So that record pace on variety meats in China is laying a good base of business for the rest of the world.”
Beef exports took a step back in July, posting the lowest volume since January, but export value per head of fed slaughter again exceeded $400. Halstrom said that beef exports posted strong year-over-year gains in July to Taiwan and Mexico, and shipments were also higher to Canada, Hong Kong, Africa, Peru, and Honduras.
“But we do have some good news out there as well and some signs of life in the Asian markets in particular,” Halstrom said. “Taiwan went up 15% in the month of July- that’s the third month in a row with growth over a year ago. Taiwan is a very important market for the high-end program chilled business. We have a very dominant presence at retail. But in addition to that, it’s also a very important market for some of the alternative cuts, some of the less utilized cuts like the round primals. There’s still a lot of value – and speaking of value, we are running about still $400 a head contribution for the exports for the beef supply chains, so the value of beef to the on the export side to the supply chain really cannot be overstated.”
For more information, visit usmef.org.
