The country expanded exports to the US, Japan and South Korea, and now has export approval in 62 processing plants. According to Luis Fernando Iruega Evaristo, livestock specialist at Mexico’s national bank for the agricultural sector FIRA, the increase is largely due to the country’s new export strategy.
“A strategy that has been successful is the use of brokers and local consultants, with good contacts in the wholesale markets of these countries. Through them, Mexican processors are attentive to different needs and successfully capture the preferences of each market segment, which helps Mexico gain shares of these countries’ demand like it did in recent years,” he told GlobalMeatNews.
Mexico doubled its meat exports to Japan in 2011, and Evaristo believes this market will grow further in the next few years. He added that exports to the US and Korea would also increase, and noted the growth of the Russian market in recent years. “Recently we have also observed important dynamism in the Russian market and there is scope to increase exports even more, and at a faster pace than other countries,” he said.
According to Evaristo, other factors, such as the 2004 Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy outbreak in North America, also helped the competitiveness of Mexican beef. “Until 2003, exports of beef products were very low (3,000t that year), but mad cow cases in Canada and the US closed the door for exports in these countries, leaving demand unsatisfied in their buying markets. Our sanitary level and the development of the network allowed Mexican companies with high standards to take advantage of the opportunity by penetrating the Japanese market,” he added.