What Does Marketing U.S. Meat in the New Normal Look Like?

A panel discussion during the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) virtual Spring Conference focused on marketing U.S. red meat in the new normal. USMEF representatives from around the globe offered insights to how markets are changing heading into a post-pandemic era.

China’s economy on the rise
Joel Haggard, USMEF senior vice president for the Asia Pacific Region, said that in China, despite closed borders, the economy is growing.

“Inside China, there's a very strong economy, and those closed borders are really helping fuel very good food service and retail spending,” Haggard said. “Despite this bilateral political tension that's been in place for several years, the market access for our beef and pork is has remained luckily, somewhat stable.”

He points out that ecommerce is becoming more complex. COVID-19 accelerated online food sales. This has resulted in a more confident consumer in China. 

“Chinese consumers coming of age, and there's more emphasis now on healthy products and products that are going to be good for me, and that helps fresh food, and it helps our high-quality beef and pork category,” Haggard said.

Mexico seeks new channel development
Gerardo Rodriguez, USMEF marketing director for Mexico and Central America, said in Mexico the pandemic forced distributors to shift to direct marketing to consumers and new channel development.

During 2020, the food service industry faced so many problems and Rodriguez said this resulted in some of the distributors shifting from selling from business to business to business to consumer. 

“This means that they were opening new stores, they were targeting the end consumer and they were trying to reach a different audience, so they were developing a new segment for them,” Rodriguez explained.

Japan tourism expected to resume soon
In Japan, USMEF Japan director Takemichi Yamashoji believes the nation should see an economic resurgence around the Tokyo Olympics and expects tourism to resume soon.

“Tokyo Olympics is planning to start on July 23 through August 8. Direct Olympic economic effect is more than $30 billion after Olympics,” Yamashoji said. 

With an increased number of vaccinations in Japan, he believes the industry can expect the Japanese government to accept tourists from overseas soon. 

“The number of tourists has been growing in the past several years, and in 2019, the number of tourists was a record high,” he said.

South Korea sees growth in bone-in steaks
Jihae Yang of USMEF in South Korea said U.S. bone-in steaks that were once found only in high-end restaurants are becoming popular in the Korean retail sector now.

The tomahawk steak and the vertical cut bone-in short rib, known as camping rib in Korea, are two mega items this year, Yang said.

“All retail chains are now selling tomahawk steak, so this contributed to U.S. loin exports increasing by 40% for the first four months this year,” Yang said.
 
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