US beef exports increased by 3% in volume in May and 9% in value, whereas pork exports for the same month declined 3% in volume and 3.6% in value.
The US improved its beef exports this year to several countries, and its leading destination was Japan, with exports up 56%. Japan accounted for 20% of all US beef exports in volume and 24% in value.
US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) president Philip Seng said: “We were confident that the market for US beef in Japan would rebound when our access expanded. Our team in Japan is working aggressively to explore untapped niches to maintain the growth momentum for beef.”
The difficult market in Russia has had an impact on the export, and US exports were down 99% in both value and volume.
Seng said: “The loss of a key market like Russia ripples through the red meat industry. The absence of one of the largest meat purchasers in the world affects the volume of product sold and, more importantly, the price that other customers need to pay for it in a competitive marketplace.”
In the pork sector, the first five months of this year saw a 9% decline in volume and 8% decline in value, and slowly increased up until May, when the sector outperformed the general trend this year.
Exports were larger to Mexico, with an 11% increase and Seng explained: “The volume of US pork that Mexico consumes is essential for our industry, and that is why we have focused resources on driving up per-capita pork consumption there. On the other hand, Japan is the leading value market for pork exports, and there we are concentrated on higher value branded and chilled products.”
Pork exports to Russia in May fell to zero, after having been down 84% in value and volume over the year.