Audio: USMEF Chairman at World Pork Expo - Producers Looking for Bright Spots in Tough Business Climate...

An estimated 18,000 pork producers from around the world are gathered at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines this week, and U.S. Meat Export Federation Chairman Jon Caspers is among them.  The operator of a nursery-to-finish operation in Swaledale, Iowa, that markets 13,000 hogs annually, Caspers offered his observations from the pork industry’s premier event.

While export markets have remained an area of strength for the U.S. pork industry, Caspers says the mood among producers is understandably somber as the industry struggles with rising production costs and a very sluggish hog market. He noted that recently even the global marketplace has presented an unusually high level of volatility for U.S. pork.

Audio Clip #1   :38        Outcue:  (…market’s telling us.)

Interruptions in pork trade with Russia and China continue to frustrate the industry, but Caspers says the situation calls for a calm but very persistent approach by USMEF and U.S. trade officials.

Audio Clip #1   :28        Outcue:  (…a lot more comfortable.)

For more information on the World Pork Expo, please visit www.worldpork.org.

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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 and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.