Global demand for protein including meat has become a boon for US pork and beef producers even as previously closed markets have reopened to welcome US meat exports.

Hong Kong market reopened to US beef and beef products in mid-June, and before this, only deboned US beef could be shipped.

Mexico, Uruguay, Ecuador and Sri Lanka have also lifted their longtime restrictions.

Rabobank's third-quarter global beef report forecasts strong price levels based on limited supply, strong import demand, and high prices for competing proteins.

US beef exports to Asian countries are expected to rise after 2014. Imports of grain-fed beef by higher-income countries are also projected to grow steadily. 

"In countries with limited resources, it makes more sense to import meat than to import grain for their livestock," said Howard Hill, president of National Pork Producers Council.

Hill said the US also exports 25% of its total pork production. "That includes muscle and variety, offal, organ, ears and snouts. One fourth is variety meat. The US has a low-cost, high-quality product that's attractive globally. Asia, Southeast Asia, and China have tremendous growth potential."

Hill predicted that pork exports in the next few years "will be in countries with young, growing populations and economies, and middle-class incomes, especially Asia, Southeast China and Africa." 

In Central and South America, Colombia is the largest destination for US pork.

US pork is also gaining in Peru, whose imports of US pork last year more than doubled from 2012, reaching 2,279 metric tonnes valued at $5.6 million.