Pork Exports Continue to Climb Higher While Pace Cools for Beef in September
U.S. pork exports topped year-ago totals for the second consecutive month in September, while beef exports dipped below the $1-billion mark but remain on a record pace, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).
Pork Exports Climb Higher
In September, pork exports reached 222,202 metric tons (mt), up 1% from a year ago. Meanwhile, export value increased 9% to $664.8 million – the highest since June 2021. Through September, pork exports were 13% below last year at 1.94 million mt, valued at $5.57 billion (down 11%).
Mexico led pork exports in September, though shipments slipped below year-ago volume for the first time since early 2021. Exports rebounded to Japan while strengthening to China/Hong Kong and South Korea. Exports continued on a record pace to the Caribbean and Colombia.
Continued strong export numbers amid mounting headwinds such as a strong U.S. dollar show the benefits of the work of USMEF to diversify global demand for U.S. red meat, points out Dan Halstrom, USMEF president and CEO.
"This emphasizes the strategy to maximize and diversified markets as much as we can is definitely paying off," Halstrom says. "You have growth out of some of the major markets - China was up, Korea, Japan, some of our larger markets. But then you scroll down to some of the smaller markets and Colombia continues to be a very consistent growth market for us. The Dominican Republic, the Caribbean in general is growing, and the ASEAN region, the Philippines. So you know, you've got seven or eight markets contributing to this growth in the month of September. While we still had a good month to Mexico at 76,000 tons, it was down about 5% and we were able to show growth overall."
Beef Exports Chill, But Remain on Record Pace
According to USMEF, September beef exports totaled 115,487 mt, valued at $890.3 million, down 7% from a year ago in both volume and value. However, for the first nine months of 2022, beef exports were still 4% above last year at 1.12 million mt. Export value reached $9.12 billion, up 20% and achieving the second highest total for any calendar year, trailing only the 2021 record ($10.58 billion).
"We did have a down month on beef in September of about 7%," Halstrom says. "But we're still right at $900 million exported and it wasn't very long ago that $900 million would have been a record for a month of exports. Once again, we have a pretty broad base of strength on the beef side."
U.S. beef and beef variety meat exports are on pace to exceed $12 billion in 2022. Despite COVID-19 challenges, September beef exports to China/Hong Kong were still above last year. Shipments also increased year-over-year to the ASEAN region and Caribbean, but declined to Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
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