A sharp decline in China’s hog and pork prices is a significant concern for the world’s pork exporting countries, including the United States. As China’s demand for imported pork moderates, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Economist Erin Borror says in the audio clip below the key to maintaining overall export growth is to rebuild pork consumption in markets outside of China, especially in the Western Hemisphere.
Borror notes that when China’s demand for imported pork surged following confirmation of African swine fever (ASF) in China, pork consumption pulled back in some other major import markets. She says there are excellent opportunities to rebuild this demand, and the U.S. pork industry is well-positioned to meet this challenge because it is the least “China-reliant” among major pork exporters. Chile has recently shipped more than 40% of its total pork production to China and Brazil about 20%. For Canadian and European pork, the percentage of total production exported to China has been as high as 34% and 14%, respectively. For the United States, the share of total production exported to China peaked at 8%.
