Little Sign of Slowdown in EU Exports
EU - EU pork exports in May 2016 were marginally lower than in April but were still nearly double their level in the same month last year, at 226,000 tonnes.Latest figures from Eurostat show that booming sales to China continued during the month, topping 100,000 tonnes for the second month in a row. This was more than three times higher than in May 2015.
There was some slowing of exports to Japan, although they remained higher than a year before.
Sales to other Asian markets remained strong, though, as did shipments to the United States, which were more than double last May’s level. Although growth was largely demand driven, lower unit prices did help exports.
The average value was down 9 per cent on the year, although the total value of exports was still up nearly 80 per cent at €488.7 million.
The latest figures take EU exports for the first five months of this year to nearly 1 million tonnes, 56 per cent more than in the same period last year. The value of these exports was over €2 billion, 43 per cent more than in January to May 2015.
There was a slight slowdown in offal exports during May, although they were still up by more than 30 per cent year on year, at 107,000 tonnes. This was more than 10,000 tonnes lower than in April.
There were good sales to all the main Asian markets. Vietnam continued to grow in importance, with shipments treble their level last May, although its share of total exports was still only 3 per cent, as the trade remains dominated by China/Hong Kong.