News Pig export
Mexico is the new China for US pig sector
Like Europe, the American pig sector is also suffering from the Chinese drop in demand. Unlike the exporters here, the US does have an alternative destination. Neighboring Mexico is the new China for American pig exports.
Read this article?
Become a subscriber and get instant access
Choose the subscription that suits you
Figures from the American Meat Export Federation (USMEF) show that sales of 73.000 tons of pork to Mexico in October were almost 50% higher than the same month last year. Over the first ten months, the export volume increased by 31% to more than 600.000 tons. Sales expressed in money even increased by 57% to $1,1 billion. This means that Mexico has surpassed China as the largest sales market.
Mexico is facing a pork shortage. Due to increasing prosperity, consumption is increasing rapidly, but production is being slowed down, among other things, because of animal diseases (such as PED). On paper, Mexico has a shortage of about 600.000 tons of pork, almost all of which comes from the US. Europe has a competitive disadvantage - due to the distance - and is therefore not tapped by the Mexicans to make up for the pork shortage.
Total export value on the rise
Sales to China (including Hong Kong) have suffered considerably and fell by 41% to 377.000 tonnes from January to October. Because China has its own production in better order, less supply is needed from abroad. In Japan and South Korea, the US recorded limited volume growth of 324.000 tons (+3%) and 132.000 tons (+5%) respectively. On balance, the US shipped 2% less pork than last year, the exported volume in the first ten months was slightly higher than 2 million tons. The underlying value rose 6% to $5,7 billion.