U.S. Meat Product Showcase Connects Exporters with Southeast Asian Importers

Wed, 19 Oct 2022 20:41:12 GMT

U.S. red meat suppliers met face-to-face with buyers from the Philippines and Vietnam at the U.S. Meat Products Showcase, adding a personal connection between U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) members and exporters with importers and processors in the southeast Asian region.

Originally slated for 2020, the USMEF event, along with USDA, the National Pork Board and the Beef Checkoff Program support, was delayed due to COVID restrictions. However, Dave Rentoria, USMEF representative in the Philippines, says now is a great time to bring the importers and suppliers together as the economies rebound and events are allowed at full capacity.

“The marketplace has changed in the past two years, not only because of COVID, but also because the Philippines has reduced tariffs on imported pork, because of the impact of African swine fever has had on the domestic supply,” says John Herath, USMEF’s communications director.

Because of the reduced tariff, from 30% to 5%, and increased minimum access volume or the quota, Rentoria says the Philippines has increased their importation of pork. U.S. pork export values increased by 26%, with a 78% increase in the Philippines alone from 2020 to 2021.

Rentoria adds, “This is a good opportunity for us to also tap [the importers] and inform them of the qualities or attributes about U.S. pork.”

Seen as an area with tremendous growth potential, the U.S. Meat Products Showcase aimed to further support the goal of increasing red meat exports in the southeast Asian countries, highlighting the quality and diverse product offerings found in U.S. meat.

Extreme Growth Potential with Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for U.S. Red Meat Exports

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 19:43:20 GMT

Trade talks with key trading partners on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework are gearing up, and U.S. Meat Export Federation’s assistant vice president of export services Travis Arp has more details on how this might impact U.S. red meat exports.

“Looking at issues like science-based trade, good regulatory practices and transparency with regulations and things that can really open more opportunities for U.S. exporters in a multiple group of sectors,” Arp says will be on the agenda.

Submitting comments on the ‘resilient trade pillar’ of the framework, USMEF explains the economic impacts of the region’s trades.

“In 2021, Japan and South Korea were the largest volume and value markets for U.S. beef, importing a total of 320,737 and 280,143 metric tons (MT) of U.S. beef, respectively; valued at $2.376 billion and $2.382 billion, respectively,” the comments explained. “2021 U.S. pork exports to Japan and Korea were valued at $1.693 billion and $556 million, respectively, making Japan and Korea the second and fifth largest value markets for U.S. pork.”

USMEF’s comments explained that the value of U.S. beef exports to the region increased by 22% from 2020 to 2021, with a 65% in Indonesia alone. Meanwhile, U.S. pork export values increased by 26%, with a 78% increase in the Philippines alone. These statistics show extreme growth when considering the U.S. market share in these areas are relatively low.

As the economic framework is still under construction, Arp believes the goal is to strengthen trade relations with allies in Asia, seeing the region as an opportunity to improve market access and open these markets to U.S. exporters.

“There’s an opportunity to address some of these systemic barriers to trade,” Arp says. “Gaining more beef access into markets, like Korea, and creating more opportunities for plants to get approved in markets like Malaysia and Indonesia, then this could potentially pose a significant boost to red meat exports in the future.”

Other framework details include promoting science-based trade rules, establishing regionalization agreements in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak, such as African swine fever , and tariffs, quotas and import licenses.

Read USMEF’s full comment detail here .