Little Impact on US Pork Sales to Asia When Beef Bans End
US - With the eventual lifting of bans on US beef imports in Asia, US pork exports to these Pacific Rim countries will likely suffer only modestly, according to Phillip Seng, President and Chief Executive Officer of the US Meat Export Federation.
28 October 2004
2 minute read
Seng said that after most of the nation's trading partners banned US beef imports in December 2003, countries like Australia, Uruguay, and Brazil have filled the void by supplying beef to major customers such as Japan. The bans were imposed after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease, was discovered in Washington State.
These other beef-producing countries in total have filled about 90% of the beef shipments that the US had been supplying prior to the implementation of the beef bans, Seng said.
He added that sales of US pork to Japan and other countries in the region have increased. But the sales volume is not likely to decline much when the beef bans are eventually lifted.
US Department of Agriculture export data show that total pork sales to Japan through the first eight months of this year were up about 7% by volume from a year ago. For the January-August period, Japan was the US's second- largest customer for pork, with Mexico ranking first. These two counties combined to absorb 66% of US pork exports.
Source: eFeedLink - 28th October 2004
