In four years’ time, promotion of U.S. pork by local retailers in the Panama and Columbia markets has greatly improved, says Randy Spronk, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) chair-elect and longtime pork industry leader, upon returning from a recent National Pork Board mission to the area.
In the retail space, Spronk explains the overall presentation of the products has improved since his last visit.
“I’m just going to be honest with you, I thought it was a very poor display of the product,” he recalls, referring to his trip four years ago.
Frozen pork had been sliced, not packaged and in an endcap at the store, he explains. Now, frozen product is sliced, packed in foam trays and wrapped individually, dramatically improving the appeal of the product to local consumers.
“We do see this gradual evolution of the growth of the market and, I think, actually the presentation of our product, as the cold chain matures,” he adds.
USMEF notes as the U.S. pork industry seeks to diversify global demand, Central and South America will be key growth areas.
“We have a tendency to look to Asia and think that’s our only potential for exports, but really, when you look at Central, South America, Latin America, you roll up all those countries, they have the population and the opportunity to be another Mexico,” Spronk notes.
Especially considering market diversification, Central and South American countries offer opportunity to the U.S. pork industry.
“The difficulty is each one of them is an individual country that we have to look at and grow that market. But Colombia and Panama are just two excellent examples of what we can do,” Spronk says.
Colombia has grown immensely in the last 10 years, following the free trade agreement from 2012.
