Pork Highlights
October 2020:

Pork: 201,723 mt, +11%, $552 million, +10%
PVM: 40,813 mt, -7%, $89 million, -0.5%
Pork + PVM: 242,536 mt, +8%, $641 million, +8%

January – October 2020:

Pork: 2.072 million mt, +20%, $5.485 billion, +18%
PVM: 386,578 mt, -6%, $845 million, +3%
Pork + PVM: 2.458 million mt, +15%, $6.330 billion, +16%

October pork muscle cut exports totaled 201,723 mt, up 11% or +20,200 mt from last year and the highest since May. October muscle cut exports were higher to most regions including China/HK (+8,700 mt), Mexico (+6,100 mt), Japan (+5,400 mt), the ASEAN (+3,100 mt), Canada (+2,700 mt), Taiwan (+2,000 mt), Caribbean + DR (+460 mt), the EU (+190 mt), the Russia region (+100 mt), Africa (+70 mt), and Central America (+60 mt), while exports were lower to Korea (-5,000 mt), Australia/NZ (-2,800 mt), and South America (-810 mt). Pork muscle cut exports to Mexico (50,304, +14%) were the highest since March, and exports to Japan (34,530 mt, +26%) were the highest since April. Exports to China (46,379 mt, +26%) were the highest since May, while exports slowed to Hong Kong (1,370 mt, -39%). Exports to Canada (19,070 mt, +17%) slowed from the large September total of over 21,000 mt but remained higher year-over-year. Exports to Korea (9,724 mt, -34%) were the highest since June but remained below year-ago levels. Exports to both Colombia (5,795 mt, -35%) and Chile (4,581 mt, +101%) were the highest since March, but exports to Colombia remained below year-ago levels, while exports to Chile were higher year-over-year for the past two months. Exports to Australia (5,714 mt, -35%) and New Zealand (882 mt, +39%) slowed from September to October. Exports to the Philippines (4,193 mt, +43%) were above 4,000 mt for the third consecutive month, the highest monthly level since 2014, and exports to Vietnam (2,440 mt, +567%) also remained significantly higher year-over-year in October, although exports slowed from over 4,000 mt in August and September. Exports to the Dominican Republic (2,914 mt, +23%) were the highest since May. Exports were higher year-over-year to Honduras (2,790 mt, +1%) and Panama (1,865 mt, +28%) but were lower to Guatemala (1,570 mt, -10%), although October exports to Guatemala were the highest since March. Exports to Taiwan (2,487 mt, +412%) were at the highest level since 2010 for the third consecutive month in October.

October pork variety meat exports totaled 40,813 mt, down 7% or -3,000 mt from last year but the highest since April. Exports were higher year-over-year to China/HK (+1,100 mt), Mexico (+100 mt), and Taiwan (+10 mt), while exports were lower to ASEAN (-2,900 mt), Korea (-440 mt), Canada (-180 mt), South America (-180 mt), Caribbean + DR (-140 mt), Japan (-120 mt), and Central America (-80 mt). Exports to both China (21,988 mt, +18%) and Hong Kong (+1,118 mt, -67%) were the highest since May. Exports to Mexico (10,484 mt, +1%) were the highest since January. Exports to the Philippines (1,855 mt, +15%) were the fourth highest monthly volume on record, but exports to Vietnam (222 mt, -94%) were sharply lower, following large sales of pork feet to Vietnam last October.

U.S. Pork & Variety Meat Export Value in October 2020

U.S. Pork & Variety Meat Export Volume in October 2020

Exports to Chile (1,591 mt, +3%) were the second highest monthly volume on record, but exports were lower to Colombia (445 mt, -22%). Exports to Canada (955 mt, -16%) slowed to the lowest level since 2016. Exports to Guatemala (356 mt, +1%) were the highest since April, and exports to Panama (222 mt, +25%) slowed but remained higher year-over-year. Exports slowed to Japan (324 mt, -28%) and Korea (239 mt, -65%). Exports to Taiwan (322 mt, +2%) were the highest since May.

January – October pork and variety meat exports totaled 2.458 million mt, up 15% or +328,000 mt from last year. Exports were higher year-over-year to China/HK (+403,000 mt), the ASEAN (+16,400 mt), Canada (+12,500 mt), Japan (+11,000 mt), Taiwan (+3,800 mt), the Caribbean + DR (+2,300 mt), the Russia region (+890 mt), and Africa (+430 mt), while exports were lower to Korea (-40,500 mt), Mexico (-32,700 mt), South America (-31,800 mt), Australia/NZ (-16,900 mt), Central America (-1,200 mt), and the EU (-560 mt).

October pork exports accounted for 23.2% of pork production and 26.0% when including variety meats as compared to 20.9% and 24% for October 2019. January – October pork exports accounted for 26.5% of pork production and 29.2% when adding variety meats, up from 22.6% and 26.0% for January – October 2019.

October pork export value per head averaged $46.87/head, down $1.26/head or -3% from $48.13/head last October. For January –October, pork export value per head slaughtered averaged $57.33/head, up $6.21/head or +12% from $51.12/ head last year.

SOURCE: USMEF