Product Showcase Connects U.S. Meat Exporters with Buyers from Across Latin America
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Buyers from across Central and South America as well as the Caribbean met face-to-face with U.S. red meat exporters at the 13th Latin American Product Showcase hosted by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). Held July 30-31 in Guatemala City, the event featured 67 exhibitors and representatives from more than 80 USMEF member companies. Buyers represented 18 different countries.
Through funding support from USDA, the National Pork Board, the Beef Checkoff Program, the Nebraska Beef Council and the Indiana Soy Alliance, USMEF’s Latin American Product Showcase has developed into a must-do event for a wide range of U.S. exporters and buyers from throughout the region. Attending for the first time, USMEF Chair Steve Hanson, a rancher, cattle feeder and grain farmer from southwestern Nebraska, said the showcase is a great example of the U.S. red meat industry’s effort to attract new customers and further develop emerging markets.
Those sentiments were echoed by Kevin Rasmussen, an Iowa pork producer who serves on the National Pork Board who also notes the importance of having farmers connect directly with the international buyers.
For exporters like Bob Giertz of Indiana Packers Corporation, the Latin American Product Showcase offers a unique opportunity to discuss potential sales with a broad array of international buyers covering a huge geography in just two days. It provides a direct access that otherwise would not be economically feasible.