Data for the top US pork markets appear below while beef export data appear on page 2. The countries shown in the table accounted for 96 per cent of total export volume and value for both beef and pork. Some highlights of the numbers are:

• December exports were SOFT — with beef and pork volumes down 7 and 11 per cent, respectively. Beef export value was still up a healthy 15.4 per cent from one year ago but pork prices were not sufficiently higher to overcome the lower December volume, declining 2.3 per cent from December 2013. None of these results were unexpected.
  
  
• Mexico is not the clear number one market in terms of volume for US pork products, taking nearly 515,000 metric tons of product weight pork in 2014. That is 132,000 more than now?second place Japan . Ex? ports of pork to Mexico grew by 11.4 per cent from 2013. Shipments in December were down fractionally from one year ago for both volume and value.
  
  
• What may be more important regarding Mexico’s 2014 purchases is that that their value rose more than 2.5X their volume! The 11.4 per cent increase in shipments brought 31.2 per cent more in value. 2013 exports to Mexico brought, on average, a price of $1.393 per pound of product weight. That figure in 2014 was $1.5475. “Paying up” for pork in 2014 was, we know, necessary given high US prices and significant pig losses to PEDv in Mexico. But that fact that Mexican processors — and ultimately consumers — did, in fact, pay up is important.
  
  
• Japan still holds the top spot in the export value rankings, taking $1.785 billion worth of US pork in 2014. That figure is down three per cent from last year on volume that was 6.6 percent lower.
  
  
• Canada remained our third largest pork market in spite of taking 7.4 per cent less US pork in 2014. That product was work 7.8 per cent MORE than one year ago.
  
  
• South Korea was the big growth market in 2014—at least partly be? cause exports there had been so disappointing in 2013! But a gain is a gain and 37 per cent more volume at 66 per cent higher value are both huge positive moves.
  
  
• Exports to the combined China/Hong Kong market were down 29 per cent in volume and 26 per cent in value in 2014.
  
  
• Total US beef exports ended the year fractionally lower but, in percentage terms, unchanged in volume terms. That steady volume, however, brought nearly 16 per cent more value to the US industry.
  
• Japan remains the top US beef market in both volume and value. Exports volume for Japan declined slightly while the value of Japan’s purchases rose by just over 12 per cent.
  
  
• Hong Kong was the big growth market for US beef in 2014, gaining 17 per cent in volume and 39 per cent in value — and rising to the number two spot in the rankings on both measures. And we are sure all of that beef was consumed right there in Hong Kong, right?
  
  
• Canada slipped to #4 in volume and #3 in value in 2014 with the two figures declining by 23 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively from 2013.
  
  
• As it was for pork, Korea was a big growth market for beef in 2014.

Further Reading

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