News Pigs
US meat exports take hit from trade war
Meat exporters in the United States have seen a clear decline in export volumes as a result of the trade war. Although the tariffs were paused shortly after they went into effect, the situation is causing a lot of uncertainty and less trade. US export volumes of beef and pork fell sharply in April compared to April 2024. Trade with China in particular took a big hit.
Read this article?
Become a subscriber and get instant access
Choose the subscription that suits you
After President Trump announced high import tariffs for many countries in early April, these same tariffs were put on hold for many countries shortly afterwards. For China, the import duties were further increased at that time. It was not until mid-May that negotiations led to a reduction of the tariffs imposed on China. The rapid succession of developments in the area of import duties and the uncertainty that this entails is clearly visible in the beef and pork export figures. Exporters in the US delivered 14% less pork to foreign buyers in April and 9% less beef.
Volume China especially affected
Exports to almost all major export markets declined in April. For pork, volumes declined the most in percentage terms in sales to China. Volume fell by more than 14.000 tonnes (-34%). Sales to the most important trading partner in pork, Mexico, also had to take a big step back. Volume fell by 16.000 tonnes (-15%) to 91.000 tonnes. The exported volume to Japan, Korea and Canada also decreased. Small increases were seen among buyers in South America, Australia and Taiwan. Total American pork exports fell by more than 14%, or 40.000 tonnes, to 237.000 tonnes.
The picture is similar for beef. Exports to China (-69%) and Mexico (-17%) in particular showed significant declines. However, these were offset by gains towards Japan (+6%) and Korea (+18%). Total beef exports fell by 10.000 tonnes in April, almost 9%, compared to April 2024.
Pricing does not seem sensitive to low export figures
Despite the weaker export figures, prices for beef and pork remain high. The futures markets for delivery this summer are also high. This will have to do with the reduced supply of slaughter cattle. As a result, there is automatically less meat available for export.
According to recent figures from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the number of cattle slaughtered in the first four months was 5% lower than in the same period a year earlier. A total of 10.096.000 cattle were hung on the hooks. The number of pig slaughters decreased by 2% in this period. This brought the number of pigs slaughtered to 42.851.000. The figures may be slightly distorted by a period of extreme cold in February this year. As a result, the number of slaughters was particularly small in February due to the resulting supply problems.