According to statistics released by the USDA, the increase of pork exports is keeping figures ahead of 2011, when the approximate value was $2.17bn.
Philip Seng, USMEF president and CEO, said: “Considering the recovery of domestic supplies in markets such as [South] Korea and China, pork exports have performed remarkably well through the first four months of the year. Despite fierce competition in Japan, we have increased our market share further this year and nearly topped $700m in value.”
The report also highlighted April 2012 as the strongest month for beef exports, despite an 8% decline in volume compared to last year, with the overall value increasing to $469.6m (+9%) in that month alone.
US beef exports may have been affected by a recent outbreak of BSE in California. Seng explains: “BSE is still a very sensitive issue in that market. We are pleased that nearly all our trading partners took a science-based approach to the situation and imposed no changes in market access for US beef.”
