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April red meat exports remain strong despite disruptions
The president and CEO of the US Meat Export Federation says red meat export numbers for April were impressive considering the supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19.
USMEF’s Dan Halstrom says Japan was a bright spot. “We’re seeing the benefits of the US-Japan ag agreement,” he says. “Which put us on a level playing field with our major competitors like Australia on the beef side and Canada and Europe on the pork side. The Japan numbers for beef are up 30 percent for the month of April and in regard to pork we were up about 28 percent.”
He says pork exports into China were also remarkable. “We saw dramatic grow of 350 percent year-over-year,” he says. “The supply situation is relatively short in China and the outlook for the balance of the year remains positive relative to pork exports from the US.”
Overall, pork exports were up 22 percent year over year and beef exports were down just 4 percent. Halstrom says demand for US red meat is expected to remain strong throughout the year, but he does expect the supply chain disruptions to impact both May and June totals.
