Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 12/14/09

U.S. beef export volume reached its highest point in the year in October and pork exports experienced their second-best month of 2009, according to the latest statistics released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Despite depressed currencies of major trading partners, beef exports in October indicated a rebound may be underway. Volume was 82,627 metric tons (182.2 million pounds) and value was $274.7 million, the largest monthly volume and third-highest monthly value of the year.

While still below year-ago levels, October's beef exports showed a 12 percent increase in volume and 5 percent in value over the prior month, and exceed the 2009 monthly average by 11 percent in volume and 7.5 percent in value. Nonetheless, year-to-date beef exports lag behind last year's totals in volume and value.

"This has been a tough year globally for the beef industry due to the rough economic conditions," said Philip Seng, USMEF president and CEO. "This year USMEF realigned its resources to put a lot of our emphasis on markets and niches within markets that showed potential for near-term growth, such as the convenience store niche in Japan, and that has helped limit the overall decline even though the strong U.S. dollar made our products relatively more expensive."

Pork
Pork exports, meanwhile, continued their ascent in October, with total exports of 164,092 metric tons (361.8 million pounds) representing the second-largest monthly volume this year and pork muscle cut exports reaching their highest volume of 2009 at 128,392 metric tons (283.1 million pounds).

Year-to-date exports are down 11 percent in volume and 13 percent in value compared to 2008, a record-setting year for pork exports. However, they remain nearly 50 percent higher than the second-best year on record, 2007.

This year, exports account for 22.3 percent of total production compared to 24 percent last year, while the value of exports equates to $38.17 per hog slaughtered compared to last year's $42.31.

"As we've seen on the beef side, the downturn in pork exports has been prevalent around the world," said Seng. "The most recent data shows pork exports from the European Union are down nearly 20 percent and Mexico's are down 17 percent."

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