Growing demand in a mature market isn’t easy. U.S. Meat Export Federation’s (USMEF) Gerardo Rodriguez said it requires creating new channels and new products.
Even though Mexico is considered a mature market for pork, USMEF has been focused on developing new opportunities within the market in the past year and continuing on into 2023, he explained to members of the Pork Leadership Institute (PLI) during their recent trip to Mexico City. PLI is a comprehensive training program conducted jointly by the National Pork Board and the National Pork Producers Council to ultimately develop future leaders of the industry.
“We need to make some value-added products. We want to step away from being just a commodity and being perceived as raw material for further processing. Instead, we want to make pork at the center of the plate. To do that, we need to expand the market as much as possible,” said Rodriguez, regional director for USMEF in Mexico.
Elena Gonzalez, foodservice manager for USMEF Mexico, discussed one of their recent success stories to accomplish this goal: breakfast club. At the end of June 2022, USMEF invited nine restaurants who already feature dishes with U.S. red meat to be a part of this campaign.
“They didn’t need to do anything different or create anything special,” Gonzalez said. “We visited those nine restaurants with different media to promote their restaurants.”
The event kicked off at an event where media and content creators were invited to one of the restaurants to highlight the promotion funded by the National Pork Board and the Cattleman’s Beef Board. The campaign was promoted on Instagram and TikTok to showcase new ways to feature U.S. red meat.
For the closure of the campaign, USMEF organized a bike ride that culminated in one of the featured restaurants.
“We used bacon, belly and loin to promote pork consumption,” she said. “We don’t always focus on breakfast. Most of the time we focus on lunch, so we wanted to bring some success stories to breakfast.”
Why the U.S. Needs to Take Note
During the COVID-19 lockdown, foodservice took a great hit in Mexico like it did in many countries, Rodriguez said. USMEF has been helping with foodservice recovery efforts in Mexico.
“We want people to go back to restaurants,” Rodriguez said. “We also want to promote certain pork cuts in restaurants.”
Gerardo Rodriguez discusses the latest efforts of USMEF in Mexico. Photo by National Pork Board and the Pork Checkoff.
With all the noise U.S. pork producers are faced with on a daily basis, how important is it to travel miles and miles away to see what’s happening in Mexico?
“It is a value for both sides,” Rodriguez explained. “It allows producers to see the market and how Checkoff dollars are being used. I think it’s important they are being exposed to what’s happening in Mexico. We are creating and ‘farming’ what we want to harvest in the long run. We are getting ready for the future – for the next generation.”
At the same time, Rodriguez said they are dealing with short-term concerns, too.
“How can we deal with competition in the marketplace?” he asked. “We are developing new markets, giving more value to the products. It’s important for U.S. producers to see what we are doing here to grow demand.”
It’s also important for the importers to see that producers are interested in what they are doing with their product.
“It’s a two-way street,” he said.
As a strategic partner for National Pork Board, USMEF uses Checkoff funds that are matched by USDA’s Market Access Program (MAP) to leverage global staff to build connections and increase U.S. pork exports, positioning it as a safe, consistent, sustainable and high-quality protein.
“Our goal is to create value and diversification for each part of the pig,” said Courtney Knupp, National Pork Board’s vice president of international market development. “USMEF is our flagship partnership because of their presence in-market and strong relationships with importers, further processors, retailers and foodservice. We seek to engage with USMEF’s other sectors of membership, especially state pork and soy organizations, to promote U.S. Pork and execute promotional projects in major markets.”
A Divided Strategy
In the last five years, pork has been the fastest-growing protein in Mexico, Rodriguez said.
“The consumption per capita growth is amazing,” he said. “We divide our strategy in two different segments: weekends and weekdays.”
The weekend customers are the meat boutiques – high-end retail stores. The buyers are generally men looking for meat to barbecue.
“It’s a little of a macho activity,” he said. “They want to have the best product possible when they host a barbecue at home.”
Meanwhile, the weekday customers, who are the most important in volume, are the families looking for daily dishes. Popular options include ham slices or cubes – cuts that can be prepared more quickly.
“Now that the foodservice is recovering and coming back, the restaurants are using more pork. We eat pork in carnitas, chicharron and tacos,” Rodriguez said. “We hope more producers can come to Mexico and see how we are investing Pork Checkoff dollars to build growth.”
Editor’s Note: Mexico has remained committed to U.S. product, despite other countries gaining tariff free access, USMEF said. U.S. pork exports to Mexico in Jan. – Nov. of 2022 reached 869,526 mt, up 9% from 2021 and just short of the full-year record set in 2021. Export value of pork exports to Mexico, Jan. – Nov. 2022 have reached $1.84 billion, up 20% and surpassing the yearly record with a month still to be tallied.
More from PLI’s Trip to Mexico City:
Demystifying Pork in the Mexican Marketplace
An Inside Perspective on U.S. Pork in Mexico
A Full-Circle Experience: How Pork Leadership Institute Changed a Life
