March 20, 2013

The 2013 US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Market Expo team of pork, beef, soy and corn producers, after two days of meetings in Peru, wrapped up its activities on Friday (Mar 15) in Panama City, Panama.

Bolstered by strong economic growth and the recently implemented US-Panama Trade Agreement, Panamanian demand for US beef and pork is surging. This made a big impression on United Soy Board member David Hartke of Teutopolis, Ill., who raises soy, corn, wheat and sorghum while also operating a 6,000 head hog operation and finishing Holstein steers.

"I feel we have opened up some major channels here for US pork and beef," Hartke said. "The USMEF staff here in Central and South America has made excellent use of our check-off investments and converted those into some terrific trade opportunities."

On Thursday (Mar 14), the team was briefed by Arlene Villalaz, USDA/FAS agricultural specialist for Panama. She highlighted the surging interest in US agricultural products now that the new trade agreement with Panama has significantly lowered import duties and eliminated other trade barriers. The group also received an overview of grain trade activity in the Central-South America region from Kurt Shultz, regional director for the US Grains Council.

Next the team visited Panama's largest cold storage warehouse, a two-year-old, state-of-the-art facility operated by Galores Advanced Cold Storage Solutions. Rafael Rocha, the company's managing and commercial director, provided an extensive tour of the facility and explained how Galores serves a rapidly growing number of Panama's supermarket and foodservice chains. Rocha said the cold storage business is booming in Panama despite several challenges, including high utility rates and a severe shortage of skilled, reliable labour.

The group's next stop was the unique retail outlet Meat Boutique, a specialty meat shop that sells high-end beef, pork and lamb to walk-in clientele. The owners of Meat Boutique also import meat from several destinations for distribution to high-end restaurants and other foodservice outlets.

The team also got a feel for Panama's rapidly growing supermarket sector in visits to Riba Smith and Supermarket El Rey locations. Both chains carry a variety of US pork and beef cuts, and the group was able to observe a US beef tasting demonstration El Rey Supermarkets is conducting in cooperation with USMEF and importer/distributor Pedersen Fine Foods.

"I am very impressed with the level of demand for US meat, both here in Panama and in Peru." said Emmet, Neb., cattle producer and sale barn operator Richard Schrunk, who serves on the Nebraska Beef Council. "They have strong economies here and the quality and consistency of our product really attracts a lot of interest. As a beef producer I know that we need to sell every part of the steer, so I consider our foreign marketing efforts in Latin America to be a very good investment of our Nebraska check-off dollars."

Another important aspect of the USMEF Market Expo is that it allows producers from several different agricultural sectors to see how the US industry works together to achieve success in the international marketplace. This sentiment was articulated by Shane Meyer of Diller, Neb., president of the Nebraska Pork Producers Association and supervisor of a 2,500 sow farrowing operation.