January 27, 2005
U.S. pork exports leap with soaring popularity
U.S. exports of pork set new all-time records for both volume and dollar value in 2004, one of the factors behind the banner year price-wise for pork producers.
From available data, January-November volume of pork exports (including variety meats) climbed to a record 928,693 metric tons, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) reported.
This was up 36 percent from the same period in 2003, the 14th straight year of volume increases, as U.S. pork exports values hit the US$2-billion mark for the first time ever.
Mexico was the No. 1 buyer of U.S. pork in volume terms, USMEF said, with a 73-percent increase to nearly 330,000 tons.
Beef exports restrictions probably contributed some to the increase in pork exports in 2004, said Dale Durchholz, AgriVisor Services analyst.
Purchases of U.S. beef by Japan and some other major importers have been suspended since BSE was confirmed in the U.S. 13 months ago. Major importers also have shunned Canadian beef products in the wake of its BSE cases.
But a variety of other factors also have helped to lift pork exports.
BSE-related reductions in Mexican beef imports from Canada and the U.S. were a driving factor behind part of Mexico's larger pork purchases in early 2004, according to USDA.
But more generally, higehr U.S. pork exports to Mexico are likely reflective of competitively priced U.S. pork products, a growing Mexican middle class, and an improving retail marketing system in Mexico, a USDA analyst said.
Taiwan purchases of U.S. pork also jumped by more than 60 percent in 2004. The Taiwanese turned toward U.S. pork after an outbreak of Porcine Circovirus in that country reduced domestic pork output, USDA said.
USMEF reports the U.S. now exports more than five times the volume and value of pork it did in 1991, when the 14-year string of consecutive records in pork export volume began. USMEF is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for U.S. red meats.
