Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 6/18/09

Demand for U.S. pork in Mexico is on the rebound and by the end of June shall have nearly returned to pre-H1N1 levels, according to Chad Russell, the U.S. Meat Export Federation's regional director for Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

Russell said in a USMEF audio update this week that the organization has conducted surveys indicating that the vast majority of consumers in Mexico do not believe that people can contract H1N1 from eating pork.

"We believe demand is coming back and by the end of June demand will be back to near where it was prior to H1N1," Russell said.

For the first four months of 2009, Mexico was the largest volume export market for U.S. pork, importing more than 390 million pounds, at a value of $265 million. This represented a 71 percent increase in volume and a 62 percent increase in value over the same period last year. These results, however, only capture one to two weeks of the H1N1-related slowdown, USMEF spokesman Joe Schuele told Meatingplace.

"We expect May to be the month that is most impacted by A-H1N1, with demand showing improvement back toward normal throughout the month of June," he said.

The flu dampened demand on pork in general, meaning there also is a glut of Mexican pork on the domestic market that has made prices more affordable for the domestic product than for U.S. pork. However, Russell said USMEF believes domestic inventory will be worked off by the end of June as well.

USMEF is launching four or five pork promotions with major Mexican supermarket chains in the upcoming weeks in an aggressive bid to rebuild demand for U.S. pork.

"I think the timing might be pretty right, too, because once local product is worked off and prices start coming up, importers will start importing again," Russell said, noting nearly 35 percent of pork consumed in Mexico is imported, primarily from the United States.

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