Pork Highlights
December 2019:
Pork: 239,016 mt, +36% (and a new high, surpassing the previous record set in November), $662 million, +47% (also a new record)
PVM: 43,129 mt, +29%, $98 million, +29%
Pork + PVM: 282,145 mt, +34% (and a new high, surpassing the previous record set in November), $760 million, +44% (also a new high)
January – December 2019:
Pork: 2.176 million mt, +10% (record high), $5.947 billion, +11% (record high)
PVM: 495,833 mt, +8%, $1.005 billion, -5%
Pork + PVM: 2.672 million mt, +10% (record higher), $6.952 billion, +9% (record high)
December pork muscle cut exports were record large at 239,000 mt, up 10% or +63,000 mt from December 2018 (and surpassing the previous record set in Nov of 216,000 mt, Nov and Dec 2019 are the first two months that pork exports have been over 200,000 mt). Record large exports continued to be driven by the increase to China/HK (+74,000 mt from Dec 2018), while exports were also larger to Mexico (+5,000 mt), the ASEAN (+240 mt), and Central America (+160 mt). December exports were lower than 2018 to Korea (-7,800 mt), South America (-4,400 mt), Canada (-2,100 mt), Caribbean + DR (-970 mt), Taiwan (-710 mt), Aus/NZ (-420 mt), Japan (-390 mt), and the EU (-60 mt). In December, combined exports to China/HK totaled 84,862 mt, up 684% from 2018. This was a new record, following previous highs of 61,000 mt in November 2019 and 44,500 mt in July 2019. The only other times monthly exports had been over 40,000 mt to China/HK before 2019 was for two months in 2008 and two months in 2011. December exports only to China were 82,659 mt, up 783% from 2018 (and up from the previous record of 58,500 mt in November). Annual muscle cut exports to just China totaled 378,026 mt, up from the previous high of 224,472 mt in 2011. December exports to HK were 2,203 mt, +50% from 2018. In December, pork exports to Mexico were the second largest of the year at 55,667 mt (after 56,115 mt in July) and were up 10% from last December. Annual pork muscle cuts to Mexico ended the year down 11% from 2018 at 578,230 mt. Exports to Japan were down just slightly in December (28,580 mt, -1%), while exports to Korea remained sluggish compared to last year’s record pace in December (16,066 mt, -33%). Exports were also lower to Canada (15,588 mt, -12%). Exports to Australia finished the year on a strong note at 9,776 mt, down 3% from last Dec’s record monthly total but still the fifth highest monthly volume on record. Annual muscle cut exports to Australia were up 32% from last year to nearly 104,000 mt, well above last year’s record of 79,000 mt. December exports to NZ were lower (650 mt, -13%), but annual 2019 exports were record large at 10,000 mt. December exports to Colombia continue to lag year-ago levels at 7,486 mt, -31%, but annual exports were record large at 97,000 mt. Exports to Chile were also lower year-over-year in December (2,399 mt, -22%), but annual exports also set a new record at 34,000 mt. December exports to the Philippines (1,804 mt, +6%) were at the lowest level since last December, and exports continued to slow to Vietnam (319 mt, -4%), while exports were higher to Singapore (360 mt, +18%). December exports to the DR (1,989 mt, -37%) slowed to the lowest level since Dec 2017. Annual exports to the DR were the second highest on record at 33,000 mt, but were off nearly 9,000 mt from last year’s record. For Central America, exports were higher to Honduras (2,820 mt, +18%) and Panama (4,995 mt, +9% and record large) but were lower to Guatemala (953 mt, -25%) in December. Annual pork muscle cut exports set new record in 2019 to all the Central American markets. Exports were higher to the Bahamas (521 mt, +10%) in December.
December pork variety meat exports were up 29% or +9,700 mt from December 2018 at 43,129 mt (but down from 45,312 mt in Dec 2017). Exports were higher to China/HK (+9,700 mt), Mexico (+1,600 mt), Caribbean + DR (+440 mt), Central America (+180 mt), and Aus/NZ (+140 mt), while exports were lower to the ASEAN (-680 mt), Korea (-660 mt), Japan (-470 mt), South America (-410 mt), Taiwan (-80 mt), and Canada (-20 mt). Combined pvm exports to China/HK were 26,014 mt in December, up 59% from 2018 and the highest since March 2018. Exports to China were 19,518 mt, down from 20,247 in Nov 2019 but up 125% from Dec 2018. Exports to HK (6,496 mt, -15%) were the highest since June. December exports were higher to Mexico (10,514 mt, +18%) but were lower to Canada (1,298 mt, -1%). Exports to Korea were below previous-year levels since June, with December exports down 42% from 2018 at 918 mt. Exports to Japan were below previous-year levels since July, with December exports down 39% at 743 mt. December pvm exports were lower to the Philippines (890 mt, -41%) and Vietnam (373 mt, -23%). Annual exports to the Philippines were down over 6,000 mt from 2018 at 11,900 mt in 2019, with exports to Vietnam down just 3% from 2018 at 10,070 mt. December exports slowed to Chile to 207 mt, -48%, but annual exports remained significant at 9,250 mt. December exports to Guatemala set a new record at 604 mt, +104%, and annual exports were record large at 4,631 mt, up 40% from last year’s record.
For Jan – Dec 2019 total pork/pvm exports were up 10% or +235,000 mt to a new record at 2.672 million mt. Higher exports to China/HK (+314,000 mt), Australia/NZ (+28,000 mt), South America (+17,000 mt), Central America (+12,000 mt), Canada (+9,000 mt), and the Russia region (+680 mt) outweighed lower exports to Mexico (-69,000), Korea (-35,000 mt), Japan (-24,000 mt), the ASEAN (-8,000 mt), Caribbean + DR (-7,000 mt), Taiwan (-2,400 mt), the EU (-700 mt), and Africa (-460 mt).
In 2019, the top 20 pork/pvm volume export destinations for the U.S. were Mexico (708,133 mt, -9%), China (574,988 mt, +161%), Japan (369,891 mt, -6%), Canada (214,703 mt, +4%), Korea (207,650 mt, -14%), Australia (105,247 mt, +31%), Colombia (99,869 mt, +4%), Hong Kong (90,677 mt, -31%), Chile (42,951 mt, +37%), Philippines (40,477 mt, -16%), DR (34,380 mt, -19%), Honduras (33,372 mt, +9%), Guatemala (20,740 mt, +14%), Panama (19,599 mt, +20%), Taiwan (16,304 mt, -13%), Vietnam (13,811 mt, -14%), New Zealand (10,866 mt, +38%), El Salvador (7,909 mt, +7%), Nicaragua (7,694 mt, +17%), Costa Rica (7,683 mt, +31%).
In 2019, the top pork/pvm value export destinations for the U.S. were Japan ($1.5 bil, -6%), China ($1.3 bil, +128%), Mexico ($1.28 bil, -2%), Canada ($802 mil, +5%), Korea ($593 mil, -12%), Australia ($3-2 mil, +33%), Colombia ($222 mil, +3%), Hong Kong ($154 mil, -45%), Chile ($123 mil, +35%), Philippines ($93 mil, -20%), DR ($78 mil, -16%), Honduras ($67 mil, +13%), Guatemala ($60 mil, +19%), Panama ($48 mil, +23%), Taiwan ($40 mil, -10%), New Zealand ($37 mil, +45%), Costa Rica ($24 mil, +36%), El Salvador ($19 mil, +6%), Nicaragua ($19 mil, +23%), Vietnam ($18 mil, -49%).
In 2019, total pork/pvm exports were record large to: China, Indonesia, Leeward Windward Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Bermuda, Australia, NZ, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Belize.
December pork exports accounted for 29.3% of pork production (record high) and 32.1% when including variety meats (also record high) as compared to 23.6% and 26.1% for December 2018. For January – December, pork exports accounted for 23.6% of production and 26.9% when adding variety meats (the highest for pork/variety meats since 2011/2012), up from 22.5% and 25.7% in 2018.
December pork export value per head averaged $66.70/head (the highest since 2014), up $16.28/head or +32% from $50.42/head last December. For January – December, pork export value per head averaged $53.51/head, up $2.14/head or +4% from $51.37/head in 2018.
SOURCE: USMEF