US pork exports break records

Figures from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Meat Export Federation show that pork exports rose 32% in July to 233.242 tonnes, breaking the old record set in April 2018. The export value amounted to $623,3 million, which is an increase of 34%. This also increases the export value record down. In the first 7 months of this year, the United States exported 2% more pork (to 1,48 million tons).

Pork exports accounted for approximately 29,3% of total U.S. pork production in July. This is an increase of 24,7% compared to 1 year ago. During the first 7 months of the year, 26,3% of total pork production in the United States was exported.

Records despite trade war
Despite the trade war between the United States and China, exports to China have certainly contributed to the records achieved. Exports to the Asian country amounted to 68.657 tons in July, which is more than 3 times as much as last year. In addition, the value of exports increased by 173% to a record level of $152,5 million. If we look at the first 7 months of the year, exports to China increased by 23% to 292.666 tons.

Last month, exports to Mexico increased explosively and that trend continued in July. Pork exports from the United States to Mexico in that month were 19% higher than last year, bringing the total to 67.161 tons. Last month that was 59.837 tons. The value of exports also increased by 38% to $126,7 million. On the other hand, exports to the country over the first 7 months are still behind last year (-12% to 411.944 million tons).

Exports to Japan suffer from tariffs
In one of the most important markets for American pork, Japan, exporters face high import tariffs. This means that exports in July remained the same as last year: 31.019 tons. It is striking that the value has increased, because it rose by 5% to $133,2 million. If we look at the past 7 months, exports to Japan have fallen by 3% to 222.300 tons. However, an agreement in principle was recently reached between the two countries, reducing tariffs for American pigs and pork beef probably go down.

Exports to South America actually increased considerably last month. Compared to the same month last year, exports to this region increased by 30% to 95.152 tons, with the value in particular showing a significant increase: +32% to $237,3 million. The driving forces behind this growth are Colombia, Chile and Peru.