US sees rise in pork and beef exports, but a fall for lamb
USMEF reported that pork exports performed the best over the past year, totalling 188,030 metric tonnes (mt), up 4% from a year ago.
This was due to record high value import to Mexico, totalling $138.8 million (+45%), a record high for US pork. USMEF president and CEO Philip Seng commented: "USMEF has been focused for some time on increasing overall pork consumption in Mexico, and it is gratifying to see those efforts paying off in the form of very strong, sustained demand.
"With Mexico experiencing a domestic supply crunch and its hog prices up about 35% year-on-year, we have substantially increased shipments to Mexico even as US pork prices moved higher."
US pork performed well in other markets as well as Mexico. USMEF reported a 37% increase in volume sales to South Korea (11,885mt) and Japan where pork muscle cut exports (37,880mt) were up 7% in May. USMEF said this was a result of high domestic pork prices.
US beef exports performed similarly well, up 5% in volume to 102,967mt, and 15% in value to $589m. US beef gained access to the Hong Kong market last year, which has already proved to be its most lucrative market, worth $95.2m this year.
"We’re pleased to finally have full access to Hong Kong, which is something the US beef industry has been pursuing for some time," Seng said. "But this market has already performed exceptionally well, especially since we gained access for bone-in cuts early last year. That step has helped us achieve outstanding growth in Hong Kong’s foodservice sector."
However, lamb exports continued to perform poorly, down 23% in volume. This is despite high exports to Mexico. USMEF attributed to this slump to poor performance in Canada, with volume exports at only 33mt.
