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Meat exporters hope for progress in labor dispute

west coast portsIncreasing congestion at West Coast ports, where longshoremen have been working without a contract for nearly six months, is a growing concern for the U.S. meat industry.

While about one-third of U.S. beef and pork exports travel to Mexico and Canada by ground transportation, the remainder relies almost entirely on ocean freight. And, according to Phil Seng of the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), more than three-quarters of those waterborne exports go through West Coast ports.

“There’s already been disruptions and we know that a lot of exporters are having to adjust loads in order to find carriers,” Seng says. “Keep in mind that we export about 600 million dollars of red meat per month that’s leaving the West Coast, so the sooner that we can see some resolution to this issue, the better it’s going to be, for not only the packers and the exporters, but also for the producers—because it all trickles down to your individual farm.”

Negotiations on a new contract agreement have been taking place since May. Seng says the meat industry is hoping a breakthrough in those negotiations comes soon.

“These are things that, when you talk about being a reliable supplier, it calls us into question,” he says. “I recall years ago when Australia used to have some horrendous strikes, people were switching from Australian product as a result of the strikes they were having.

“So this is very serious to us as far as our credibility and reliability in these international markets.”

Seng is the president and CEO of USMEF.

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