Chile | U.S. Industry Meets With Chilean Meat Leaders | A reception held by ...

Chile

U.S. Industry Meets With Chilean Meat Leaders

A reception held by USMEF, USDA and the U.S. Embassy last month in Santiago sparked interest and created awareness of U.S. beef and pork among Chilean meat industry leaders, traders, government officials and media.

USMEF members participated in the reception to meet importers, distributors and foodservice representatives in effort to understand their needs and forge new business relationships. Nelson Huerta, USMEF Mexico director of technical services, presented unique attributes of U.S. beef and pork as compared to domestic product, and explained how the U.S. grading system ensures more consistent product than achievable by other countries, like Argentina.

Afterward, those attending the reception were able to try a variety of U.S. meat dishes for themselves.

USMEF Director, Central & South America and Global Strategic Coordination Ricardo Vernazza-Paganini discussed how U.S. beef and pork fit into the overall Chilean meat picture, noting that U.S. beef is not trying to displace competitors like Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. Instead, U.S. beef with its marbling, tenderness and consistency, is marketed as a niche product for five-star hotel restaurants and other leading restaurants.

Since a free trade agreement (FTA) was signed in January 2004, U.S. red meat enters Chile duty free. But the United States has yet to export any beef products under the FTA, partly since Chilean law requires a specific import label in each meat package. Efforts are moving forward slowly to change this costly requirement, but so far the only adjustment has been that the label can be affixed outside the package rather than inside. USMEF continues to work with the U.S. Embassy to resolve this issue.

Even though Chile is a large pork producing country, the country has steadily increased pork imports, up 430 percent since 2003. U.S. pork and pork variety meat exports to Chile were approximately 500 metric tons (mt) in 2003 and are expected to reach around 2,500 mt this year. Approximately 95 percent of all imported pork is for the processing sector. Chile is exporting much of its pork to take advantage of higher values in export markets.

 

Chile

U.S. Industry Meets With Chilean Meat Leaders

A reception held by USMEF, USDA and the U.S. Embassy last month in Santiago sparked interest and created awareness of U.S. beef and pork among Chilean meat industry leaders, traders, government officials and media.

USMEF members participated in the reception to meet importers, distributors and foodservice representatives in effort to understand their needs and forge new business relationships. Nelson Huerta, USMEF Mexico director of technical services, presented unique attributes of U.S. beef and pork as compared to domestic product, and explained how the U.S. grading system ensures more consistent product than achievable by other countries, like Argentina.

Afterward, those attending the reception were able to try a variety of U.S. meat dishes for themselves.

USMEF Director, Central & South America and Global Strategic Coordination Ricardo Vernazza-Paganini discussed how U.S. beef and pork fit into the overall Chilean meat picture, noting that U.S. beef is not trying to displace competitors like Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. Instead, U.S. beef with its marbling, tenderness and consistency, is marketed as a niche product for five-star hotel restaurants and other leading restaurants.

Since a free trade agreement (FTA) was signed in January 2004, U.S. red meat enters Chile duty free. But the United States has yet to export any beef products under the FTA, partly since Chilean law requires a specific import label in each meat package. Efforts are moving forward slowly to change this costly requirement, but so far the only adjustment has been that the label can be affixed outside the package rather than inside. USMEF continues to work with the U.S. Embassy to resolve this issue.

Even though Chile is a large pork producing country, the country has steadily increased pork imports, up 430 percent since 2003. U.S. pork and pork variety meat exports to Chile were approximately 500 metric tons (mt) in 2003 and are expected to reach around 2,500 mt this year. Approximately 95 percent of all imported pork is for the processing sector. Chile is exporting much of its pork to take advantage of higher values in export markets.