News

Meat exports still recovering

The latest figures from USDA show U.S. meat exports took a pretty good hit in January and February, mainly due to that West Coast labor dispute.

The volume of beef exports during the first two months of the year was down 11 percent from the same time last year, while pork exports declined 10 percent.

But Phil Seng, president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, says conditions have improved since a new labor agreement was reached in late February.

“I think the biggest thing is the psychological boost that’s come from this,” Seng says.  “I was in Asia just a few weeks ago and not knowing when the dispute was going to be over with, people were not interested in really talking or pursuing orders.  Now, with the dispute more or less behind us, what we’re starting to see is a lot of that interest rekindled.”

Seng says that, in addition to port congestion, meat exports faced significant challenges such as the strong U.S. dollar, large supplies from key competitors and market access barriers.