USMEF News | Meeting Celebrates Meat Exports And Provides Direct Look At No. ...

USMEF News

Meeting Celebrates Meat Exports And Provides Direct Look At No. 1 Market

Encouraging news of U.S. red meat export increases and tours of market conditions in Mexico, the No. 1 market for U.S. meat, provided USMEF members attending the Strategic Planning and Marketing Conference Nov. 1-3 in Cancun with insight to plan for the future.

Exports of U.S. beef, pork and lamb to foreign countries are expected to increase in 2007, thanks in part to efforts of USMEF. That was one of the messages shared by Phil Seng, USMEF President and CEO, to open the conference on Wednesday, Nov. 1.

U.S. international beef sales are expected to be up 36 percent, Seng said, while pork is projected to increase 9 percent and lamb projected to be up 7 percent. According to the USDA, global beef trade will be up 6.5 percent and pork up 2.6 percent.

Seng also identified six strategic priorities for USMEF that will help maximize U.S. beef, pork and lamb exports in the coming year. These are total carcass utilization, trade support, buyer education and loyalty, market presence, product/industry image and market access.

Lowell Catlett, a professor and dean of the College of Agriculture and Home Economics at New Mexico State University, was the keynote speaker. He told more than 250 attendees there are trends in the world today that those in the food industry can’t afford to miss. One of those trends is the shift from being production-driven societies to being consumer-driven ones.

Afterward, members visited with USMEF directors of international offices to ask questions and gain greater insight into the markets the United States exports red meat to.

Then members toured distributing centers and retail stores in Cancun to better understand meat products that appeal to Mexicans and how U.S. meat products can continue to gain momentum and success.

As USMEF celebrates its 30-year anniversary, it awarded Alan R. “Bud” Middaugh with the 2006 Distinguished Service Award, honoring the first president of the organization. Middaugh joined USMEF in 1976 and helped establish the organization as one of the world’s premier international market development groups.

The World Organization for Animal Health, also known as the Office International des Epizooties or OIE, was given the Michael J. Mansfield Award for its significant contributions to the advancement of a science-based approach to international meat safety. Dr. Bernard Vallat, OIE director general, accepted the award on behalf of the organization from USMEF Chair John Bellinger and Seng.

Members met in pork and beef committee meetings to review and discuss Strategic Market Profiles (SMPs) prepared by USMEF, laying out market information and strategies to expand U.S. meat sales in each foreign country. USMEF members approved the SMPs in their respective meetings.

Finally, USMEF members elected new officers. Dennis Erpelding of Elanco Animal Health was elected chair, taking over from Bellinger, San Antonio , Tex., of Agri-West International.

“I look forward to following the pattern and passion set by John Bellinger over this past year,” Erpelding said during his inaugural address. “Our commitment will continue to be communication – internally as well as to our external audiences – as we focus on market access and development.”

The communication priority is one of three objectives Erpelding outlined for USMEF members attending the conference, which was held this week. The second is to work with all meat production and marketing sectors to increase U.S. red meat exports.The third is to leverage international networks, using individuals and communication to advance the message of what the organization is doing to put U.S. red meat on world tables.

Also elected were Dan Halstrom, of Swift & Company, Greeley, Colo., as chair-elect, Jon Caspers, Swaledale, Iowa, of National Pork Producers Council, as vice-chair, and Jim Peterson, Buffalo, Mont., of National Cattlemen’s Beef Association as secretary-treasurer.

New sector representatives named during this meeting are: Luisa Munsee, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, to represent beef/veal producing and feeding and Steve Isaf, Interra International, to represent the purveying and trading.

USMEF recognized members of the Executive Committee whose terms representing their sectors ended. They are Peterson, representing beef/veal producing and feeding, and Knud Aagaard-Svendsen, MetaFoods, LLC, representing purveying and trading.

 

USMEF News

Meeting Celebrates Meat Exports And Provides Direct Look At No. 1 Market

Encouraging news of U.S. red meat export increases and tours of market conditions in Mexico, the No. 1 market for U.S. meat, provided USMEF members attending the Strategic Planning and Marketing Conference Nov. 1-3 in Cancun with insight to plan for the future.

Exports of U.S. beef, pork and lamb to foreign countries are expected to increase in 2007, thanks in part to efforts of USMEF. That was one of the messages shared by Phil Seng, USMEF President and CEO, to open the conference on Wednesday, Nov. 1.

U.S. international beef sales are expected to be up 36 percent, Seng said, while pork is projected to increase 9 percent and lamb projected to be up 7 percent. According to the USDA, global beef trade will be up 6.5 percent and pork up 2.6 percent.

Seng also identified six strategic priorities for USMEF that will help maximize U.S. beef, pork and lamb exports in the coming year. These are total carcass utilization, trade support, buyer education and loyalty, market presence, product/industry image and market access.

Lowell Catlett, a professor and dean of the College of Agriculture and Home Economics at New Mexico State University, was the keynote speaker. He told more than 250 attendees there are trends in the world today that those in the food industry can’t afford to miss. One of those trends is the shift from being production-driven societies to being consumer-driven ones.

Afterward, members visited with USMEF directors of international offices to ask questions and gain greater insight into the markets the United States exports red meat to.

Then members toured distributing centers and retail stores in Cancun to better understand meat products that appeal to Mexicans and how U.S. meat products can continue to gain momentum and success.

As USMEF celebrates its 30-year anniversary, it awarded Alan R. “Bud” Middaugh with the 2006 Distinguished Service Award, honoring the first president of the organization. Middaugh joined USMEF in 1976 and helped establish the organization as one of the world’s premier international market development groups.

The World Organization for Animal Health, also known as the Office International des Epizooties or OIE, was given the Michael J. Mansfield Award for its significant contributions to the advancement of a science-based approach to international meat safety. Dr. Bernard Vallat, OIE director general, accepted the award on behalf of the organization from USMEF Chair John Bellinger and Seng.

Members met in pork and beef committee meetings to review and discuss Strategic Market Profiles (SMPs) prepared by USMEF, laying out market information and strategies to expand U.S. meat sales in each foreign country. USMEF members approved the SMPs in their respective meetings.

Finally, USMEF members elected new officers. Dennis Erpelding of Elanco Animal Health was elected chair, taking over from Bellinger, San Antonio , Tex., of Agri-West International.

“I look forward to following the pattern and passion set by John Bellinger over this past year,” Erpelding said during his inaugural address. “Our commitment will continue to be communication – internally as well as to our external audiences – as we focus on market access and development.”

The communication priority is one of three objectives Erpelding outlined for USMEF members attending the conference, which was held this week. The second is to work with all meat production and marketing sectors to increase U.S. red meat exports.The third is to leverage international networks, using individuals and communication to advance the message of what the organization is doing to put U.S. red meat on world tables.

Also elected were Dan Halstrom, of Swift & Company, Greeley, Colo., as chair-elect, Jon Caspers, Swaledale, Iowa, of National Pork Producers Council, as vice-chair, and Jim Peterson, Buffalo, Mont., of National Cattlemen’s Beef Association as secretary-treasurer.

New sector representatives named during this meeting are: Luisa Munsee, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, to represent beef/veal producing and feeding and Steve Isaf, Interra International, to represent the purveying and trading.

USMEF recognized members of the Executive Committee whose terms representing their sectors ended. They are Peterson, representing beef/veal producing and feeding, and Knud Aagaard-Svendsen, MetaFoods, LLC, representing purveying and trading.