Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 12/12/11

October was another excellent month for U.S. pork and beef exports, according to statistics released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

Pork exports set a new all-time monthly value record at $573.9 million (up 41 percent from last year), which pushed the cumulative value through October to a new annual record of $4.93 billion – breaking the previous high of $4.88 billion in 2008 – with two months to spare.

Beef export value for October was $452 million, pushing the 2011 total to a new annual record of $4.49 billion. This is 37 percent ahead of the then-record pace established in the first 10 months of 2010.

In addition to setting a new value record, pork export volume for October was also very strong at 200,725 metric tons – 24 percent higher than last year and the second-largest volume total ever.

Mexico is the top volume destination for U.S. pork, with October exports up slightly in volume over last year but 15 percent higher in value. This pushed the 2011 export totals to 429,926 metric tons (down 2 percent) valued at $830.6 million (up 4 percent).

Beef per-head value exceeds $200
October beef export volume was 105,912 metric tons. This was 10 percent higher than October 2010 and pushed the 2011 volume total (1.073 million metric tons) 24 percent ahead of last year’s pace.

Despite being down slightly in October, Mexico remains this year’s leading volume destination for U.S. beef, followed by Canada. Mexico imported 213,004 metric tons of U.S. beef in the first 10 months of 2011, up 6 percent over the first 10 months of 2010. Mexico was the export value leader in October at $85.3 million, pushing the 10-month 2011 total 25 percent higher than last year at $818.2 million.

Japan is the third-largest individual market in terms of both volume (133,870 metric tons) and value ($726.9 million) for the first 10 months of the year. These totals exceed last year’s pace by 30 percent and 38 percent, respectively. October export volume was down slightly from last year at 12,631 metric tons, but value was 13 percent higher at $73.7 million.

Beef exports to South Korea maintained a very strong pace, pushing the 10-month 2011 volume to 129,810 metric tons (up 43 percent from last year) valued at nearly $575 million up (36 percent).

“The continued rebuilding of consumer confidence in U.S. beef in both Japan and Korea is essential as these key markets recover sales volume and value that was lost in the post-BSE years,” USMEF President and CEO Phil Seng said in a news release.

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