February 10, 2016

2015 a 'challenging' year for US red meat exports

US pork exports in December posted a 3% increase from a year before to 188,410 metric tonnes, the largest since April and the third-largest in 2015, data released by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and compiled by the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) showed.

Export value was, however down 13% to $468.9 million compared with December 2014, but it was the highest since May. For the full calendar year, pork exports were down 2% from a year before in volume (2.13 million metric tonnes) and 16% lower in value ($5.58 billion).

Pork muscle cut exports increased 3% in volume (1.7 million metric tonnes) but fell 15% in value ($4.77 billion), but pork variety meat exports declined significantly in both volume (434,661 metric tonnes, down 17%) and value ($808.4 million, down 22%). However, as USMEF had previously noted, year-on-year comparisons, especially for pork variety meat, may not be entirely accurate due to issues with 2014 data for Japan. (In 2014, some exports for Japan were miscoded as large intestines and the data has not yet been corrected, thus skewing the 2015 comparisons.)

Export value per head slaughtered averaged $48.31, down 23 percent from 2014.

Beef exports

Meanwhile, beef exports were below year-before levels in December at 94,586 metric tonnes, down 6% and slightly lower than in November. In terms of value, December US beef exports fell 21% to $507.3 million and posted the first full-year value decline since 2009.

For the whole of 2015, beef exports were down 11% from the previous year to 1.07 million metric tonnes. Export value was $6.3 billion, 12% below the 2014 record of $7.14 billion.

Export value per head of fed slaughter averaged $277.87, down 7% from the previous year but still up 13% from 2013.

"There is no question that 2015 was a challenging year for red meat exports, with several economic headwinds taking a toll," said Philip Seng, USMEF president and CEO, adding there should be "aggressive pursuit of new customers and new opportunities, in both emerging and established markets".