The U.S. Meat Export Federation has not reduced its efforts to maintain pork ...
The U.S. Meat Export Federation has not reduced its efforts to maintain pork sales to Japan – our No. 1 international pork customer – even though the spotlight recently has been on its labors to recover beef export sales there after that country discovered bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in its domestic herd last September.
In April, May and June, USMEF conducted foodservice promotions in more than 800 outlets of eight chains, promoting pork loins, tenderloins, spare ribs, picnics and sausages.
One chain was evidence of the success of this campaign. It developed a new tonkatsu (a breaded pork loin) item using U.S. chilled pork and offered several other dishes made with U.S. pork. The American pork logo was used on menus and the country of origin was prominently displayed. In addition, USMEF provided detailed information on the U.S. pork production system, domestic and foreign market trends and the profitability of U.S. pork. Unlike many similar companies, this one saw its profits rise 7 percent.
USMEF also began a U.S. retail pork promotion in April, with the slogan: “This Tenderness Grew in the USA, U.S. Pork, Now I know Why It Tastes So Good.” Fifty-six retail chains with 2,190 outlets requested point-of-sale (POS) materials and, through June, participating stores had sold an additional 2,463 metric tons (mt).
Stores used USMEF campaign materials, including U.S. pork recipe cards. In tandem with these promotions, USMEF conducted six retail seminars with regional retailers to inform them about U.S. pork production, the USDA inspection system and to teach U.S. chilled pork-handling procedures. The seminars included a cutting demonstration and ways to attractively package pork spareribs and loins for spring sales. The campaign also included consumer advertising and cooking seminars.
As part of the U.S. pork campaign, USMEF placed consumer advertisements in 12 magazines in April and May. The ads featured the tenderness of U.S. pork and used the pork seal to remind consumers of U.S. pork when they are shopping at supermarkets.
After a series of mislabeling scandals, the Japanese government strengthened control on meat labeling. This caused strong demand for “genuine” domestic pork, and the domestic pork carcass market stabilized during the Golden Week holiday at around 550 yen/kilogram. As a result, the purchase price of domestic pork loin became 1,300 yen/kilogram and retailers were not discounting or featuring domestic pork as they have in the past.
As for imported pork, due to continuously high domestic pork prices, demand for U.S. chilled pork at retail in June was strong. The trend is expected to continue until the end of summer. Most of the national retailers and leading regional supermarket chains promoted U.S. pork as table meat. Because of the high demand for imported pork into Japan, however, the “safeguard” – a Japanese government tariff plan that goes into effect when imports rise above a certain level compared to the year before – will most likely be triggered in August. Industry experts currently aren’t concerned that the safeguard will have a major impact on trade.
In 2001, Japan was the No. 1 U.S. pork export market. More than 257,000 mt of pork and pork variety meats were sold at a value of nearly $859 million. Through the first four months of this year, volume was up 2 percent and value was up 3 percent.
In 2001, according to revised USDA statistics, U.S. pork exports worldwide grew 21 percent in volume to more than 703,000 metric tons, while value grew 13 percent to nearly $1.6 billion. Exports now account for more than 9.9 percent of U.S. pork production on a wholesale weight basis.
Retail and foodservice pork promotions are funded by producers through their national pork checkoff. Pork checkoff dollars are then leveraged by USMEF through the USDA Market Access Program to carry out its international programs.
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 –