November 5, 2007

 

US poultry exports to Middle East doubles in first half of 2007

 

 

US poultry exports to the Middle East between January and June more than doubled in volume and nearly tripled in value from year-earlier levels while frozen and chilled red meat exports to the Middle East rose 29 percent, US agricultural groups said.

 

Turkey and Iraq together accounted for close to 80 percent of US poultry shipped to the region. During the first half of the year, Turkey's import of poultry doubled while Iraq saw a seven-fold increase from the same period last year.

 

Although exports rose strongly in the first half of the year, it is showing signs of slowing: exports in June were down 42 percent in volume and 60 percent  in value, said Scott Hansohn, spokesman for the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council.

 

He ruled out bird flu as a cause for the drop.

 

Turkey is the region's top importer of US poultry. While total exports to the Middle East during the first half of the year doubled to 95,924.4 tonnes from 44,734.3  tonnes a year earlier, shipments to Turkey rose 35 percent to 43,363.2 tonnes from 32,065.4 tonnes.

 

Meanwhile, shipments to Iraq increased 7-fold from 4556.7 tonnes in the first six months of the year of 2006 to 32,462 tonnes during the same period in 2007.

 

Exports of frozen and chilled red meat to the Middle East rose as well, thanks to top importer Egypt, figures from the Foreign Agricultural Service showed.

 

The increase in beef import in the Middle East is welcomed as Russia has closed its doors to foreign beef, thus affecting US producers, Cheryl Kamenski, a spokeswoman for the US Meat Export Federation said.

 

US meats have a competitive advantage over those from Australia, Argentina and Brazil as the animal diets in the US consists of corn and other grains, which is similar to what Egyptian cattle are fed,

 

Cattle from the other three countries are grass fed, she continued.

 

Red meat shipments to the Middle East rose 33 percent between January and June, rising to 54,202 tonnes from 40,784.1 tonnes in the same six-month period in 2006.

 

At the same time, the volume to Egypt jumped 18 percent to 40,416.7 tonnes from 34,207.7 tonnes. Egypt now accounts for 75 percent of US red meats shipped to the region.

 

US exports of beef variety meat (organs) and poultry to the Middle East have also been rising.

 

The volume of variety meats rose 33 percent to 39,220 tonnes in the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year, said Kamenski

 

Egypt accounted overwhelmingly for most of the variety meat imports, with small amounts going to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Kamenski said, attributing the increase to bird flu worries.

 

Of the January-May volume, Egypt accounted for 35,096 tonnes; the United Arab Emirates, 1,384 tonnes; and Saudi Arabia, 1,339 tonnes, she said.