According to the U. S. Meat Export Federation, January U.S. Pork Exports have trended higher while Beef Variety Meats topped highs in previous months. USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom shares the details on Pork Exports, “Of course, last year, the last several months by Latin America, Mexico, Central America, even down into Colombia, for example. But the interesting thing about the January stats is that in addition to that momentum from Latin America, we saw a pretty big month from Asia, specifically Japan on pork, 27,000 metric tons, up 22% from a year ago. Korea was strong as well. Even Taiwan was strong, 1,300 metric tons, three times what we were the previous year.”
Halstrom also shared the bright spots on beef variety meats, saying “Led by Japan, but a lot of other markets as well on the variety meat side, markets like Korea and, of course, Mexico. So we’re excited about that. If you look at the beef side in general, while down, down about 10% year on year, you take China out of the mix and we’re up. We’re up 5% on volume and 16% on value. So I think this is a testament to the fact that the rest of the world, demand remains very, very good on U.S. beef.”
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.