U.S. Red Meat Showcase Connects U.S. Exporters with Buyers in Southeast Asia

In late August the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) conducted its first-ever regional product showcase in Southeast Asia, a promising market for U.S. red meat. Last year U.S. beef exports to countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reached $275 million and U.S. pork exports were nearly $170 million, but the region still has untapped potential. One of the challenges for U.S. exporters is that prospective customers in the ASEAN are spread across many small countries, so one of the main objectives of the USMEF product showcase was to allow exporters to meet face-to-face with many buyers at a single location in Singapore.

USMEF Trade Analyst Jessica Spreitzer participated in the product showcase and made a presentation at an accompanying educational seminar. She covered global red meat trade, production and consumption trends, while Dr. Travis Arp, USMEF senior director of export services and market access, presented on the technical requirements that govern U.S. red meat entering ASEAN countries.

Transcript

Joe Schuele:U.S. Meat Export Federation Trade Analyst Jessica Spreitzer just returned from Singapore where USMEF held its first-ever product showcase and seminar aimed at prospective buyers from southeast Asia. The region also known as the ASEAN or Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Spreitzer has more details on the event in this USMEF report:

Jessica Spreitzer: We had our first ASEAN Product Showcase and Seminar in Singapore and this was a way to bring buyers from all over the region to meet with some of our members and be able to showcase their products and have one-on-one meetings with the buyers. So we had 13 members participate and then we also had buyers from countries all over the region, so from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam. So it was a two-day event and then some of the team continued on to Indonesia and had additional meet-the-buyers sessions there as well.

Joe Schuele: Serving the ASEAN region can be challenging geographically but also due to a wide range of import requirements that vary from country to country, so the USMEF event included an educational aspect as well:

Jessica Spreitzer: It can be a little bit difficult with that region although there is a lot of opportunity for beef and pork, so one of the presentations at the seminar was actually focused on some of the requirements to bring product into those markets from the U.S. so Travis out of our Denver office gave that presentation and I provided an overview on both the U.S. market supply side and some trends going on in the U.S., and then we also talked about the global trade picture, so looking at how China is driving global trade on both the pork side especially now with ASF but also on the beef side as well so talking about how that affects their markets and then looking forward at some of the growth that we've seen in the ASEAN region and where we expect to see continued growth there as per-capita consumption increase.

Joe Schuele: For more information, please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Joe Schuele.

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The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry. It is funded by USDA; the beef, pork, lamb, corn and soybean checkoff programs, as well as its members representing nine industry sectors: beef/veal producing & feeding, pork producing & feeding, lamb producing & feeding, packing & processing, purveying & trading, oilseeds producing, feedgrains producing, farm organizations and supply & service organizations. USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law. USMEF is an equal opportunity employer and provider.