US pork exports continue to decline

 

 

The lingering global economic slump and low prices for domestic pork and beef products in key export markets contributed to declines in both U.S. pork and beef exports in June, according to US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) statistics.

 

Through the first six months of the year, 2009 is still shaping up as the second-best year for US pork exports, but it remains 9-percent below 2008 in terms of volume and 7 percent in value. For 2009, US exported 925,339 tonnes of pork and pork variety meat valued at nearly US$2.2 billion.

 

Compared to export totals in June 2008 - the second-highest single month totals in history - combined pork and pork variety meat exports were down 31 percent in June 2009, totaling 133,594 tonnes valued at US$320.4 million.

 

To ensure that US meat products maintain a high profile in key markets, USMEF is employing a variety of tactics to support beef and pork exports.

 

The United States' No. 2 pork market, Japan, also is up for the first half of the year.   Volumes rose 1 percent to 223,290 tonnes while the value of those exports is up 13 percent to US$808 million. For June, export volumes to Japan dipped 13.5 percent versus a year ago while the value of exports slipped just under 6 percent.

 

On the flip side, exports to the No. 3 market, the greater China/Hong Kong region, are off just over half for the year, dropping 52 percent in volume to 121,412 tonnes and 54 percent in value to US$203.3 million. Russia, the No. 6 pork export market, has seen volumes drop 35 percent to 60,826 tonnes. The value of pork exports to Russia is down 37 percent compared to the first half of 2008, reaching US$123.9 million.

 

However, pork variety meat exports are up 27 percent in volume to 245,984 tonnes, and the value of those exports is up 29 percent to US$379.2 million. At the same time, the market for pork muscle cuts is down 18 percent in volume to 679,355 tonnes valued at almost US$1.8 billion, a 12-percent decline.

 

On the beef side, (combined muscle cuts and variety meat) exports have fared slightly better than pork, declining 2 percent in volume and 6 percent in value for the first half of 2009, reaching 435,260 tonnes valued at almost US$1.5 billion. For the month, beef export volumes slipped 13 percent and the value fell 16 percent.

 

The success of beef muscle cuts versus variety meat is the opposite of pork: beef muscle cut exports have increased 4 percent over the first half of 2009 to 284,388 tonnes valued at US$1.2 billion - a 1-percent increase over 2008. For June, beef muscle cuts increased 2.5 percent in volume while the value slipped just over 4 percent. This was the largest monthly beef muscle cut export volume since last October.

 

At the same time, US beef variety meat exports are down 12 percent in volume to 150,872 tonnes for the first six months of 2009 while the value of those exports has slipped 26 percent to US$275.8 million. For the month, exports of beef variety meat were down 40 percent from last June.