National Pork Board uses different partners to gain insights to foreign markets like Chile and Columbia. Courtney Knupp, vice president of international market development, said these alliances help inform approaches that help differentiate U.S. Pork in the global protein market.
?We’re happy to have continued our partnership with Gira Associates, a global meat consultancy firm, which provides key deep dive analyses into opportunities for the pork sectors of different markets, and Colombia and Chile are two key markets in South America,? Knupp said.
Rupert Claxton, meat director for Gira, said it?s important to balance the consistent demands of the smaller markets while also understanding the opportunities within those markets.
?The U.S. pork industry has to build a better diversified strategy of where it can ship pork, how it can best achieve maximum value for that and where it really finds the value return in its export trade around the world,? Claxton said. ?So, the objective was to look at these two key South American export markets to understand the differences the similarities that they have.?
Claxton said there is more to be done to showcase U.S. Pork in customer service, sustainability and product availability, packaging, and consistency.
?The opportunity is good,? Claxton said. ?There is more competition in those markets. You will see more product coming in from the Europeans and from Brazil, but also U.S. pork is actually appreciated. The buyers in those markets like the product, they identify the quality of it, whether that’s the production standards, the way that some of the products are packaged and presented, they see the opportunity to do more with the product and add value to it in the future. And the issue is how many of the exporters can they get on board with that.?
An extensive, Checkoff-funded differentiation study outlined domestic production and consumption, supply chain pathways and export and import trends for each country. The reports can be requested at porkcheckoff.org.
