Not only pork exports have shown negative figures, beef exports dropped by 22% as well. These results appear to be the result of an uncertain regulatory environment in the Philippines, according to Joël Haggard, USMEF senior vice president for the Asia Pacific.
The Philippines’ pork industry has put intense pressure on its government to heavily regulate the sale of imported fresh or frozen meat.
Strong growth
In recent years, the Philippines has been a very strong growth market for US red meat exports. An uncertain regulatory environment, however, has created mixed results in the Philippines so far in 2011. The impact of these proposed regulations could be much greater on pork than on beef, and it has resulted in the country’s pork importers being very cautious in their purchasing this year.
In recent years, exports to the Philippines had shown a strong rise. The country used to represent about $12 million per year market for US pork and about $6 million per year for US beef just five years ago. But the market soared to new records in 2010 of $103 million for US pork and almost $30 million for US beef. This represents year-over-growth of about 35% for each protein group, and made the Philippines a top-ten market for US pork.
Strong processed meats demand has been a key reason behind this success, said Haggard.
Related website:
• US Meat Export Federation (USMEF)
