U.S. Pork Exports on Track to Set a Record

U.S. pork exports fell below year ago levels in June, but remain on a record pace for 2020. One of the few bright spots in the pork market this year has been exports.

Clay Eastwood, with the National Pork Board says this is a positive report considering the influence of COVID.

“For the month of June, pork exports were down 3 percent compared to a year ago. But, in terms of volume and value, for volume, we’re actually up 24 percent year-to-date, and 29 percent year-to-date on value. So, even though June was down a little bit in terms of numbers, we still see that those exports are on record pace for the year.”

Eastwood said the export picture has a significant impact on the bottom line for pig farmers.

“Exports accounted for 24 percent of total pork production in June, and that’s over 31 percent for the first half of the year. When we talk about export value per head, for the month of June, we saw the export value per head at over $46, which is down significantly from the highs that we saw in the April and May data. But still, for the first half of the year, we see that export value per head at over $63.”

That number is up 27 percent from 2019.

The Pork Checkoff partners with the U.S. Meat Export Federation for international market development which has been challenging during the pandemic.

“We’ve continued to see trends higher to places like China and Hong Kong, places like the Caribbean, Honduras and Taiwan; but we have seen shipments trend lower to places in some of our bigger markets, like Mexico, Japan, South Korea and South America,” said Eastwood, who added that the Meat Export Federation has had to get creative to reach consumers in other markets.

“A couple of examples of that in markets that are really valuable for U.S. pork like Japan and Mexico. In Japan they’ve been reaching their consumers by doing daily Instagram cooking demonstrations. In Mexico they’ve been doing some different online-virtual platforms where they are promoting new ways of grilling pork. So, we’re really proud of the work that they are doing there and being able to adapt to a challenging time.”

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