August 2, 2008

US pork exports soar thanks to weak dollar and China demand

US pork exports have broken records in the past two months as a weaker dollar prompted more buying while increased demand caused pork purchases fro China and Hong Kong to rise more than five-fold compared to last year.

Exports to these two destinations have already surpassed last year's levels just five months into the year.

So far this year, overall US pork export has grown 60 percent in volume and 50 percent in value over the same period a year ago, all thanks to the weakened US dollar.

A weak dollar has propelled pork export volumes to Hong Kong and China to four-times to volumes previously, while values to these two destinations rose five-fold, according to the US Meat Export Federation US Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

In just the first five months of 2008, pork exports to China/Hong Kong have already surpassed the total for all of 2007.

Monthly USoverall pork exports hit a high of 196,118 tonnes in May 2008, valued at US$452 million. This was almost double that of May 2007 and 12 percent above the April 2008 record.

Pork exports for the first five months of the year (including variety meat) was at 825,800 tonnes valued at US$1.86 billion, up 60 percent and 51 percent respectively from the same period last year.

In May, China and Hong Kong together accounted for 55,293 tonnes, or a quarter of the month's overall exports, up five-fold from just 10,706 tonnes in May last year.

For the first five months, exports to China/Hong Kong totaled 200,093 tonnes valued at US$343 million, up 336 percent and 410 percent, respectively, surpassing annual exports for the whole of 2007.