FORT COLLINS, Colo. (RFD News) — U.S. pork exports are up nearly 20% this year, a rebound from prior years.
U.S. Meat Export Federation President and CEO Dan Halstrom said the increase is largely due to more purchases from Japan.
“Japan has now recognized African swine fever regionalization in Spain. This has definitely created additional opportunities for U.S. pork, but I think it’s also a warning shot for us, and the U.S. is working on this. We’ve been working with Japan now for quite a while and trying to get our own regionalization agreement in place, just on a proactive basis, if we ever were to have some sort of issue in the U.S. While we’re seeing a bit of a tailwind on demand, it really underscores the importance of us moving forward in this area as well.”
So far this year, U.S. pork producers have shipped 160,000 metric tons of pork to Japan, valued at more than $600 million.
