March 17, 2016

UK pig meat exports up, imports down in January

Driven by a doubling in shipments to China, UK's exports of fresh and frozen pork increased by 17% in January to 16,900 tonnes compared with the same month in 2015.

According to AHDB Pork, shipments to the US also more than doubled year-on-year. The US doubled its percentage share of UK trade from 2% to 4%. Australia, which in January 2014 did not import any product from the UK, bought 170 tonnes of UK pig meat in January this year.

Exports of offal increased by 135% in January year-on-year continuing the strong export performance of recent months with shipments now averaging 7,000 tonnes per month. Exports to China increased by 175% compared with a year earlier while trade with the Philippines was up over four times. Exports of bacon were down 6% in December but still well up in January this year.

Imports of fresh and frozen pork in January, on the other hand, were slightly down compared with January 2015. They were also at their lowest level since May last year. Lower prices probably contributed to the year-on-year volume fall in January with reductions of 10% in both sterling and euro and so contributed to the ongoing price pressure on UK producers. Volumes were well up from Denmark, by 16%, but this contrasted with sharp reductions for the Netherlands and Germany.

Imports of all other categories with the exception of offal were also lower. Bacon shipments were reduced by a 35% fall for Danish product.