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Strong exports expected for the rest of the year
Red meat exports have been on fire again for much 2021, but the head of the US Meat Export Federation says they could have been better.
President and CEO Dan Halstrom says labor isn’t the only headwind slowing exports. “The bottom line is the availability of containers is less than it normally is and it’s more expensive to move them,” he says. “We have literally thousands of loads of beef and pork frozen, not chilled (the chilled are moving), being rolled from week to week. It’s something we continue to work on as an industry.”
He tells Brownfield they’re also monitoring the potential impact California’s Proposition 12 might have on pork exports, especially with two of the largest ports in the US – Oakland and Long Beach, located in California. Proposition 12 requires all meat sold in the state to come from animals that have been raised in spaces of a specific size, even if they were raised outside of the state. “This falls in the category of unintended consequences,” he says. “I don’t think anyone really thought about the pork going through there that was intended to go to Asia.”
As for the rest of 2021? Halstrom says they’re expecting a strong finish for red meat exports.
AUDIO: Dan Halstrom, US Meat Export Federation
