USDA yesterday released the data on US meat exports and imports for the month of October. Below is a brief recap of the highlights from this release:

US pork exports continued to post strong growth in October, albeit at a bit of a slower pace than last summer. US exports to China/Hong Kong have slowed down considerably compared to the pre-Olympic flurry of purchasing activity and overall pork October shipments to China/Hong Kong were 3,893 MT or 23.3 per cent lower than a year ago.

But that seemed to be the only negative in the latest pork export numbers. Total pork exports to Russia, another big growth market earlier in the year, were 14,588 MT, 25.4 per cent above year ago and the third largest monthly volume for the year. While there is plenty of talk in the market about notably smaller shipments to Russia at this time, it appears that much of the decline probably took place in November given the very robust October numbers.

Japan remains the top market for US pork, taking 38,304 MT of fresh/frozen and prepared pork in October, 26.6 per cent more than a year ago. Shipments to Mexico also bounced back in October, somewhat of a surprise given the sharp deterioration in the value of the peso by mid-October. Total pork exports to Mexico in October were 27,013 MT, a whopping 82 per cent increase from year ago levels and the largest monthly volume for the year. Overall US pork exports in October were 136,607 MT, 30 per cent higher than year ago levels.