US Meat Exports in 2007
By Shane Ellis, Iowa Farm Outlook. Trade data for all of 2007 has recently become available, so it is an appropriate time to look at the current US meat trade situation.
7 March 2008
3 minute read
Last year was a record year for both pork and poultry exports, with 3.14 billion pounds of pork and 5.77 billion pounds of broiler meat going to foreign markets. Beef is also expanding, but even at 1.43 billion pounds it is at less than half the volume of the record high seen in 2003. Poultry exports up 10.9% compared to 2006 levels, while pork was up a modest 4.8%. Poultry exports will likely set another record in 2008. Although the trend in broiler exports has seen more up and down volatility the market conditions suggest a steady to increased demand for US poultry in foreign markets. Bird flu and other fowl diseases continue to be a concern in Asian countries. Poultry is universally popular throughout the world and with a greater amount of production and consumption than any other meat. The economies and wealth of many foreign counties are also expanding, and with a weakening US dollar, there is now more money available to purchase the “cheap” US meats. Figure 1 graphs how the volume of meat exports has changed since 1990. Compared to eighteen years ago beef exports are up 42%, pork is up 1242%, and poultry is up 405%.
Figure 1. US Meat Exports, 1990-2007
In recent history pork exports have been increasing consistently, year over year. On a percentage basis, pork exports have exceeded growth in both poultry and beef. However, the growth in pork exports appears to be tapering off. Foreign demand is for US pork is more likely to hit a “ceiling” than is poultry, because of cultural customs and tastes and preferences seen in foreign markets. Pork is more limited in the markets it can enter than is poultry. Although 2008 will again be a year of high pork exports, the increase may only be 3 or 4%.
Figure 2. Poultry Exports 1990 and 2007
Figure 2 demonstrates how the percentages of broiler meat exports are distributed among foreign markets. Countries that once took a large percentage of the exports are now smaller markets in comparison to gross quantities. The majority of the growth in poultry export volumes has come from an increased number of customer markets in addition to growth in individual markets. Japan’s import volumes of US poultry has decreased by almost two thirds in the past eighteen years, but their position as the largest foreign market has been reduced to one of the smallest.
March 2008
