Source: Susan Kelly, MEATINGPLACE, 7/25/18


Weekly export data from USDA point to a slowdown in pork shipments to Mexico and the effective closing of the Chinese market to U.S. products in the wake of new tariffs, according to analysts writing in the Daily Livestock Report, published by Steiner Consulting Group.

Pork exports to China were reported as zero for the last two weeks and just 17 metric tons per week in June, the DLR said. Sales of fresh/frozen and cooked pork to China in the second half of last year were 155.4 million pounds, or 1.2 percent of total U.S. pork production.

Mexico is a much larger export market for U.S. pork, the analysts noted. U.S. pork exports to Mexico represented 7 percent of all U.S. pork production, or 917.5 million pounds, in July-December 2017.

Pork exports to Mexico declined 11 percent, to 6,289 metric tons, for the week ended July 12, compared with a year ago. Exports to Mexico jumped 22 percent above year-ago levels between April and mid-June as Mexican buyers appeared to rush to buy pork ahead of the tariff, the DLR analysts said.

“What concerns market participants is the slowdown in pork export sales to this market and the outlook for exports this fall when pork supplies blow out previous records,” they wrote, noting that lean hog futures have declined sharply since the beginning of July on concerns that slowing export sales and record production will force more product into domestic channels.

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