«For the first six months, we’re up 14% on volume. up 12% on value. And the real star of the show continues to be Mexico, up 14% off of last year, by far a record. So that’s encouraging, but I would say what’s even more encouraging is that it’s not just one country,» Halstrom said. «I mean, we’ve got the Hong Kong, China region up mainly driven by variety meats. Japan had a good month in June, demand is solid on the pork side. And there’s some outside factors helping that like the shortage or relatively short situation of pork in Europe, which is making U.S. pork even that much more attractive in markets like Taiwan.»
Kelli Wicks, manager of international market development for the National Pork Board agrees that focusing on the diversity of the market opportunities for U.S. pork has paid off during the first half of 2023.
«We are going in the Philippines and Malaysia and we’re regaining market share in the rest of Southeast Asia,» she said. «And that can be largely due to European pork prices increasing and their herd size is decreasing. And so, we’re able to position U.S. pork a bit differently in those markets.»
Wicks said China continues to grow, up 24 percent over a year ago in volume and up 20 percent in value.
«Variety meats really dominate in that market and that’s where we tend to excel in China and they’re our number one buyer of those variety meats,» Wicks said. «It's exciting to see that and know that we still are able to sell to China, though it is not our primary focus of the market for us.»
Those strong export sales are building value for U.S. pork producers.
«Year to date, the first half value per head of exports on the pork side was just under $ 64 a head. That represents 10% growth year-on-year. And I would say that we’re positioned going into the second half of the year to not only maintain but possibly exceed those numbers globally,» Halstrom said.
PigUA.info by materials hoosieragtoday.news