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The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) has released its analysis of the July 2025 U.S. pork and beef export numbers, based on the latest data from the USDA. USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom highlighted several key trends affecting meat exports, including strong pork demand in Latin America and ongoing beef export barriers to China.
Halstrom began by addressing pork export performance, which remains steady across various regions:
“Down just slightly from last year’s number at almost 239,000 metric tons. Really the same theme that we’ve heard for a while. Broad-based results from a lot of different countries are contributing to it.”
Mexico remains the top destination for U.S. pork exports, but other regions are also making impressive gains.
“The leader continues to be Mexico. You look at the rest of Latin America, Central America in particular, you know, 14,500 tons, 35% above a year ago. Central America continues to be amazing on pork. You’ve got regions like the Caribbean continue to perform up again this month.”
However, beef exports told a different story, with notable year-over-year declines.
“We were down about 19% at just about 90,000 metric tons. The vast majority of that decrease is attributable, of course, to China, which we fully expected.”
Trade restrictions in China continue to limit access for U.S. beef producers.
“China continues to be a major thorn in our side in terms of lack of access with the vast majority of the beef plants and coal storage is not listed for China. This continues to be a very high profile priority for USTR and USDA, and we’re pushing strongly in that area.”
Despite the challenges in China, other markets show resilience.
“But that being said, outside of China, demand continues to be pretty resilient. Korea had a very good month in the month of July. You know, we saw growth in excess of 10% there. While down slightly, Japan had a fairly good month as well.”
These insights reflect the ongoing strength of U.S. pork exports and the strategic push to regain beef market access in China, while building momentum in Asian and Latin American markets.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet. USMEF Recaps July Export Numbers For Pork and Beef