US pork export statistics: May 2018

Pork Highlights:

May:
Pork Exports: 174,081 mt, +0%, $464 million, -3%
PVM Exports: 43,128 mt, -10%, $99 million, -4%
Pork + PVM Exports: 217,209 mt, -2%, $562.5 million, -3.5%

Jan – May:
Pork Exports: 868,441 mt, +7%, $2.355 billion, +7%
PVM Exports: 215,114 mt, -10%, $495 million, +3%
Pork + PVM Exports: 1,083,555 mt, +3%, $2.850 billion, +6%

Pork/PVM export volume was the second highest for the month of May behind last year.

May pork muscle cut exports were down slightly from last year. The main year-over-year growth markets were Korea (21,102 mt, +6% or +6,100 mt), South America (11,111 mt, +54% or +3,900 mt), and Mexico (59,308 mt, +6% or +3,200 mt). Exports to Mexico were 59,300 mt, down from 66,700 mt in April, but exports were the highest for the month of May (and were the 7th highest on record). Exports to Korea slowed from April, but exports maintained their strong pace and have been at least 40% above year-ago levels since February.

Exports to Colombia maintained their record pace in May at 8,426 mt, more than double last May, and the second highest monthly volume after last October. Although exports to Chile were the highest so far this year at 1,936 mt, exports were down 31% from last May.

May exports also increased to the Caribbean + DR, Australia/NZ, and Central America. Exports to the DR were record large at 5,324 mt, up 13% from last May (which was the previous monthly record). May exports to Australia were the lowest so far this year but were still up 9% from last May at 5,140 mt.

Lower export volumes in May were led by China/HK (10,563 mt, -49% or -10,300 mt), Canada (14,555 mt, -10% or -1,550 mt), Japan (33,398 mt, -4% or -1,345 mt), and the ASEAN (3,390 mt, -25% or -1,131 mt), and volumes were also lower to Taiwan (772 mt, -37%), Africa (12 mt, -92%), and the EU (187 mt, -22%). Exports to China slowed to 9,186 mt in May, down 46% or -7,700 mt from last May. Exports to China had been between 13,100 and 14,450 mt from Feb – Apr, after being 9,800 mt in Jan.

Exports to HK slowed to 1,377 mt, -65% or -2,600 mt from last May. Exports to HK have been below 2,000 mt since March, but this was the lowest monthly volume since 2007. After increasing for the last few months, exports to the Philippines slowed in May and were down 11% year-over-year at 2,663 mt.

PVM exports were down 4,600 mt year-over-year in May, driven by a 4,800 mt decrease to top market China/HK. China took 12,300 mt in May, down 29% or -5,000 mt from last year. Exports were down from the March and April volumes, but were above Jan and Feb. HK took 11,288 mt in May, up 1% from last year and the second highest volume so far this year after March.

Exports to Mexico were down 11% from last year at 11,281 mt. PVM exports were higher to Korea, Japan, and the ASEAN. Exports to Korea have been above year-ago levels all year and were up 154% in May at 1,345 mt. Exports to Japan were up 52% from last year and were the highest since May 2015 at 1,362 mt. Exports to the Philippines have been strong since last fall. May exports were up 76% at 1,723 mt, the third highest volume on record.

Jan – May pork/pvm exports were up 30,800 mt from last year, with higher exports to Korea (+36,000 mt), Mexico (+19,400 mt), South America (+10,650 mt), Central America (+5,200 mt), the Caribbean + DR (+2,900 mt), Aus/NZ (+2,600 mt), the ASEAN (+2,200 mt), Taiwan (+320 mt), and the EU (+200 mt). Exports were lower to China/HK (-41,400 mt), Canada (-4,750 mt), Japan (-2,500 mt), the Russia Region (-540 mt), and Africa (-420 mt).

May pork exports accounted for 24.0% of pork production and 27.8% when including variety meats, compared to 24.9% and 29.5% last May. For Jan – May, pork exports accounted for 23.7% of production and 27.5% when adding variety meats as compared to 23.2% and 27.9% last year.

May pork export value per head averaged $55.05/head, down $3.56/head or -6% from $58.61/head last year. Jan – May export value per head averaged $55.57/head, up $1.34/head or 2% from $54.23/head last year.

SOURCE: USMEF