With one month of data still to be reported, U.S. pork exports to Mexico have already set an annual record for 2023. January-November exports to Mexico totaled more than 995,000 metric tons, up 13% year-over-year, while value was 15% higher at $2.12 billion. While Mexico has long been a large destination for pork cuts such as bone-in hams and picnics, U.S. pork loin is an emerging star in the market.
With support from the National Pork Board and USDA’s Market Access Program and Quality Samples Program, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) conducted a host of promotions in Mexico showcasing the loin. Lorenzo Elizalde, USMEF’s director of marketing and trade in Mexico, recently updated pork industry leaders on these activities.
“The U.S. pork truck has made a tremendous contribution to promote pork loin,” Elizalde said. “This year we have conducted around 150 samplings and tasting activities and over 50 activities involve recipes using pork loin. These activities have been conducted in 25 cities with 18 commercial partners. At the beginning of this year, we implemented the Pork Loin Quality Sample Program with a commercial partner located in Monterrey – CediCarnes. Pork loin was distributed among the customers of CediCarnes. And also, we used the pork truck to conduct tasting demonstrations with all the customers of CediCarnes that participated in the workshop.”
Elizalde also discussed the importance of developing new consumer products, including smoked pork loin and a chopped loin product used in tacos.
“New product development has been very important,” Elizalde said. “We believe that if we want to increase demand for pork loin, we need to develop new products. This year we developed two new products – chuleta ahumada, which is smoked loin, and also chuleta taquera. This is a chopped loin that is used for tacos. These products have been pretty successful. They are being sold at Walmart and also at City Club. We promoted these new products through grill workshops, and also we used the pork truck to conduct tasting demonstrations.”
For more information, visit usmef.org.
