News
A good month for U.S. beef and pork exports
July was another strong month for U.S. red meat exports.
Dan Halstrom, president and CEO of the U.S Meat Export Federation, says exports of beef were up in both volume and value. “Mexico continues to be very strong, but for the first time in quite a while, we’ve seen a bit of a spark out of Asia, led by both Taiwan and Japan,” he says. “So considering the headwinds on exchange rate with in the case of Japan in particular, to me this is very encouraging.”
July beef exports were up 7% on the year and export value increased 12%. January through July beef export values are up 6% from year-ago levels to $6.13 billion despite a 2% decline in volume.
Pork exports for the were substantially higher than year-ago levels and Halstrom says he doesn’t expect that to change. “I think in Latin America, we have every reason to believe that these trend lines on pork, but even on beef as well should continue,” he says. “And Mexico and Central America and South America I think are on similar tracks for continued growth.”
Pork exports were up 10% in volume on the year and value was up 13%. Mexico purchased a record $244.5 million for the month. January through July pork exports were up 4% in volume and up 6% in value.
Halstrom says he expects to see continued demand growth for the last half of the year for both beef and pork.
