Exports Add More Value to U.S. Pork

November 26, 2014 — 

The record pace of U.S. pork exports continues to accelerate and put more money in producers’ pockets, despite intense global competition and other market challenges. [Source: Pork Checkoff]

“We can be proud of what we’ve accomplished with exports,” said Brian Zimmerman, a pork producer from Beatrice, Neb., who chairs the Pork Checkoff’s International Trade Committee. “Through the first eight months of 2014, exports made up 28 percent of U.S. pork and pork variety meat production, and the value of exports amounted to $65.29 per hog.”

The numbers reflect an upward trend from 2013, when exports comprised 26 percent of U.S. pork production, and the value of exports equated to $53.95 per head.

Exports to leading markets, such as Mexico, Japan and South Korea, continue to increase. Also, for the first eight months of the year, the U.S. pork export volume was up 6 percent at 1.48 million metric tons, while the value increased 15 percent to $4.53 billion, compared with the same time period in 2013.