Expanding market access for US pork and beef in Colombia

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Expanding market access for US pork and beef in Colombia

The US Meat Export Federation is launching an initiative to expand the retail presence of US pork and beef in Colombia. USMEF’s Don Mason says they hope the program will help beef and pork exports rebound following the significant decline related to disruptions from COVID-19.

He says one of the efforts includes a new education and training program for Colombian butcher shops.  “To work with new and existing points of sale of our mid-sized importers,” he says.  “Give them expert existence on their technical and marketing processes, improve their product management and transformation, and their marketing and sales efforts.”

Mason says they’re doing that by putting a person in place to educate both shop owners and employees.  “Specifically training on the US livestock industry, meat quality, handling, and cooking,” he says.  “Alongside that we’ll be doing a marketing and publicity audit, working with their digital marketing efforts, and I think we can see substantial increase in the amount of product they move,” he says. 

The initiative is funded through the USDA Agricultural Trade Promotion Program, the National Pork Board, and the Beef Checkoff Program.

Last year US pork exports to Colombia dropped about one-third in value from their 2019 levels and the volume of beef exports also dropped about one-third. 

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