U.S. Pork Exports Reach Highest Level of 2022, 126% Increase in Dominican Republic
“U.S. pork exports reached their highest level of 2022 in May in both volume (224,677 mt) and value ($655.1 million),” the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) released.
Mexico demand remains strong and continues as the leading market for U.S. pork. However, the Dominican Republic spurred May export totals with an increase of 126% by volume year-over-year, USMEF explains.
The Dominican Republic’s domestic pork supplies are still highly impacted by African swine fever (ASF), discovered in summer 2021.
“They have lost 20% of their production, so that has turned to import more U.S. pork,” says Lucia Ruano, USMEF representative in Central America and the Dominican Republic. “[Importers] said that they don't believe that they are going to recover the numbers of production they used to have before ASF because now producing the meat is expensive for them.”
In addition, the Dominican Republic has seen a strong rebound in tourism, increasing demand for the value and flavor profile of higher end pork cuts, USMEF notes.
“They are encouraging tourism to come again to the country. This month, they reached a number of more than 700,000 tourists and that's a record number after pandemic,” Ruano says.
Ruano adds, the increase in imported pork has been largely due to food service serving high-end pork. U.S. pork is also featured in the country’s rapidly growing retail sector, and demand for pork raw material is strong among Dominican processors, USMEF says.
