Pork exports for October totalled 201,936 metric tons (mt), up 14% year on year and the largest monthly volume since March 2014. Export value was $521.1 million (m), up 16%. For January through October, export volume was 6% above last year’s pace at 1.86 million mt, while export value was up 3% to $4.79bn.
October beef export volume was 105,938 mt, up 12% from a year ago, while export value climbed 10% to $559.5m. For January through October, export volume was up 9% from a year ago at 954,868 mt, while value was down 3% to $5.1bn. Beef muscle cut exports were especially strong in October at 75,903 mt – the largest volume in two years.
Lamb didn’t fare as well, with exports down 31% compared to a year ago. This was attributed to a “steep decline in variety meat exports” in the statistics.
Accelerate volumes
Philip Seng, USMEF president and CEO, said this was an opportunity for US pork and beef to grow globally.
“With pork production at a record level and beef production also on the rise, it is imperative that we work to expand global demand and accelerate the volume of product entering the international markets.
“With strong support from USDA, our US industry partners and our international contacts, USMEF has intensified its marketing efforts in key destinations and capitalised on opportunities to regain market share – not only in mainstay markets such as Japan, Mexico and South Korea, but in a wide range of countries. This has laid the groundwork for a strong finish to this year and further growth in 2017.”
Destinations
Pork exports to Mexico remained strong in October, increasing 9% from a year ago in volume (65,271 mt) and 6% in value ($115.2m). Pork exports to Japan grew 4% in volume terms and 9% in value terms while pork muscle cut exports to China remained stable for the month.
On the beef side, exports to Taiwan were up a mammoth 90% in volume terms. Exports to Japan saw a 40% volume rise while exports to Korea saw a 63% and 68% rise in volume and value terms respectively.
Chilled beef to Japan and Korea both saw a 40% volume increase.