September exports of U.S. pork and beef were higher year-over-year, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), with pork exports well-positioned to set annual volume and value records in 2024.
Broad-based growth has pork exports on the rise. Unsurprisingly, Mexico is leading the way, but Japan has also had a solid month as well as some of the smaller regions like Central America, Colombia and South American, and the ASEAN Oceania region.
Dan Halstrom, USMEF President and CEO told Jesse Allen, “It really it just reemphasizes those trends we saw earlier in the year with broad based growth from a lot of different regions and it’s translating into record performance for the year.”
September pork exports totaled 238,047 metric tons (mt), up 8% from a year ago, while value increased 6% to $685.1 million. Through the first three quarters of the year, pork exports were 5% above last year’s pace at 2.23 million mt, with value up 7% to $6.36 billion. Halstrom is optimistic that the annual record value and volume will be met this year.
“And there’s no reason to think it won’t be the same thing next year if trend lines continue,” Halstrom added.
Exports of U.S. beef totaled 103,980 mt in September, up 5% year-over-year, while export value climbed 6% to $843.8 million. January-September exports increased 5% in value to $7.82 billion, despite volume falling 2% to 960,814 mt.
With the exception of China/Hong Kong, September beef exports trended higher than a year ago in all major Asian markets, while demand remained strong in Mexico and shipments to Central America were the largest in 18 months.
“We still have some weakness economically in Asia, especially with China,” Halstrom said. “But we’re starting to see the tourism boom in Japan. Japan’s already reestablished their record pace. And Korea, not quite a record, but close. We think by the end of the year they will be back to record pace on tourism.”
Exports of U.S. lamb reached just 167 mt in September, down 32% from a year ago and the lowest this year. Export value was $853,000, down 27%. Though while the September exports are the lowest of 2024, Halstrom doesn’t see this developing into a trend.
“I see some really good things going on with lamb, especially in Mexico. We’ve seen several new, especially in the shoulder area, lamb shoulders, breast meat, even some lamb loin business down there,” Halstrom said.
USMEF is identifying new markets and opportunities. Halstrom said Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia is currently untapped, and there is a chance to get more pork share from places like the Philippines. He added that getting US producers involved is key to telling USMEF’s story to reach these new markets.
“We take groups over (to see larger groups) periodically and we’re going to continue to do that because the markets are really hungry. You can’t bring everyone to the US to see it,” Halstrom said.
With President-elect Donald Trump coming back into office, Halstrom is looking at what happened in the first Trump administration to gauge what the future of the export business for the meat sector could be. He said there were quite a few good things to come out of that administration, including the USMCA renegotiation (NAFTA 2.0), the Japan US ag agreement, and the China phase one deal.
“Since they own these agreements, I got to think – I’m not saying it won’t be choppy, the waters will be choppy – but I think in the end, support of the export markets, I think that will prevail because we have the USMCA,” Halstrom said. “That’s part of the reason the framework is there. If you have a disagreement about an issue that is corn.”
A detailed summary of the January-September export results for U.S. beef, pork and lamb, including market-specific highlights, is available from the USMEF website.