The pork industry’s record-breaking year in exports, fueled by U.S. Meat Ex...
The pork industry’s record-breaking year in exports, fueled by U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) endeavors in key markets of Mexico and Japan, was a shining star last year, according to USMEF President and CEO Philip M. Seng.
“For the first time, U.S. pork exports exceeded 1 million metric tons in volume and $2 billion in value,” Seng said. “This was truly a milestone and we see this trend continuing.”
Through March, U.S. pork and pork variety meat exports are up 13 percent in volume at 270,807 metric tons (mt) and 29 percent in value at $632.8 million.
“Our key growth market has been Japan,” Seng said. “But, our tremendous promotional and educational efforts in Mexico have made that market a contender while South Korea is also coming on strong due to the groundbreaking work by USMEF.”
USMEF encouraged Japanese consumers to try U.S. pork belly in traditional dishes like kakuni and popular dishes like kimchi nabe. USMEF provided in-store demonstrators to show consumers how to cook the pork belly dishes. The demonstrators passed out delicious samples so buyers could taste for themselves the difference U.S. pork makes.
And they are recognizing the difference as U.S. pork and pork variety meat sales to Japan set volume and value records in 2004 with exports of 313,574 mt, up 16 percent over 2003, and $978.5 million, up 25 percent. The upward trend continued in the first three months of this year with volume up 18 percent at 88,963 mt and value up 22 percent at $276.2 million.
Mexico overtook Japan last year in export volume. Over 361,000 mt of U.S. pork and pork variety meat valued at $567 million was exported to Mexico.
This success is partly due to many retail promotions, such as the increasingly-popular Mother’s Day event honoring mothers who purchase U.S. pork at local supermarkets. This is the third year USMEF has conducted the Mother’s Day promotion to honor moms while also developing recognition of U.S. pork.
Meanwhile, in South Korea consumers are scrambling to find a substitute for high-priced domestic beef and pork. USMEF retail and restaurant promotions are getting the word out that U.S. pork’s taste and texture are comparable to domestic pork while costing 20-25 percent less.
As a result, large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Lotte Mart report U.S. chilled pork belly and Boston butt are popular among Korean consumers. Carrefour and 2001 Outlet are launching U.S. pork in their retail stores this month. USMEF will be there with U.S. pork samples, recipes and giveaways to encourage consumers to try U.S. pork.
And market closures to U.S. beef due to a single case of BSE found in a Washington State dairy cow in December 2003, have not defined the success of U.S. pork exports. For example, U.S. pork continues to thrive in Mexico, a country that reopened to U.S. beef three months after the BSE case.
According to Seng, regions that reopened to U.S. beef in 2004 experienced a 44 percent increase in U.S. pork exports. Regions closed to U.S. beef in 2004 experienced a 27 percent increase in U.S. pork exports.
“This debunks the myth that because of BSE, the U.S. pork industry experienced windfall profits. Instead, USMEF has worked hard with the U.S. pork industry to expand markets,” Seng said. “We continue to strategically plan and execute activities in established markets, such as Japan, and expanding markets, such as South Korea, to continue the growth of U.S. pork exports in 2005.”
The U.S. Meat Export Federation 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, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.
– USMEF –