Pork exports are trending lower for June but are still on a record pace and beef exports were also down for the month, reflecting the impact of a temporary shutdown in production combined with restrictions on food services.
June pork exports were down 3 percent from a year ago and overall export value fell 9 percent to $516.3 million. Beef, on the other hand, was down 33 percent year-over-year. Overall, beef exports were 9.7 percent of beef productions in June.
“I would say on the pork side it was about what we expected given that there were some interruptions in production, and you can’t export what you don’t have,” Joe Schuele with the U.S. Meat Export Federation said. “On the beef side, I feel that the drop in June was more than we anticipated. We had expected a big drop in May based on interruptions in slaughter, but we were expecting to see a bit of a June rebound and that really didn’t materialize. The weekly export data that we track suggests that we will see that rebound in July.”
He adds that beef demand was really thrown off by the closure of food service and hospitality markets. Also, he believes that the second half looks promising.
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