February 14, 2006

US pork exports break record for 15th consecutive year in 2005

The US pork industry exported 1.158 million tonnes of pork, totaling US$2.635 billion, in 2005, according to the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) on Feb 14.

This makes 2005 the 15th consecutive record-breaking year for US pork exports by volume. The volume of US pork exports for 2005 includes pork variety meat.

The USMEF said US pork sales to the US biggest market, Japan, rose 13 percent or 353,928 tonnes. In terms of value, exports to Japan increased by 11 percent or US$1.088 billion.

After five consecutive record-breaking years, US pork sales to its second largest market, Mexico, declined 8 percent or 331,488 tonnes in volume. In value, the sales decreased by 9 percent or US$513.5 million.

Meanwhile, the US beef industry exported 472,668 tonnes of beef and beef variety meats in 2005, a 47-percent increase over 2004. The value of US beef exports rose 69 percent to US$ 1.365 billion in 2005.

According to the USMEF, US beef exports sales fell dramatically in 2004 after an outbreak of mad cow disease was discovered in the US herd in December 2003. Some 133 countries immediately banned imports of US beef. Presently, 27 of them have not opened their markets to US beef.