EU Pork Exports Reach Another New High
EU - The strong run of EU pork exports continued in June, reaching another new record of 236,800 tonnes.This was up 70 per cent on the same month last year and a little under 10,000 more than the previous high point in April. As has been the case all year, sales to China drove the growth, with more than half of total exports destined for that market.
Volumes were more than treble their level in June 2015. Hong Kong and the US also took more than twice as much EU pork as a year earlier. Shipments to most major markets held up but with little or no growth, compared with last June.
Despite the rising EU pig price, export prices were slightly down on last year but the value of shipments was still up by more than half at €514.5 million. This was also a record for a single month.
The latest figures took total exports for the first half of the year to 1.2 million tonnes, nearly 60 per cent up on the same period last year. The value generated was over €800 million more than in 2015, at just under €2.6 billion.
Pig offal exports also remained buoyant, with shipments up 31 per cent year on year at 120,300 tonnes. All the major Asian markets took larger volumes, with the exception of South Korea. Higher unit prices pushed the value of exports up by 44 per cent on the year, to €157.3 million. These trends were in line with those observed throughout the year to date.