Pork Highlights:
December 2021:

Pork: 180,789 mt, -18%, $512 million, -13%
PVM: 35,083 mt, -13%, $92 million, -5%
Pork + PVM: 215,872 mt, -17%, $604 million, -12%

January – December 2021:

Pork: 2.400 million mt, -4%, $6.872 billion, +3%
PVM: 522,089 mt, +11%, $1.236 billion, +19%
Pork and PVM: 2.922 million mt, -2%, $8.107 billion, +5%

December pork muscle cut exports were the lowest since September at 180,789 mt, down 18% or -38,400 mt from December 2020. Compared to December 2020, export volume was higher to Mexico (+8,700 mt), Central America (+2,000 mt), Caribbean + DR (+1,100 mt), Canada (+870 mt), and Korea (+320 mt), while exports were lower to China/HK (-41,700 mt), Australia/NZ (-4,400 mt), ASEAN (-2,800 mt), Japan (-1,200 mt), Taiwan (-660 mt), South America (-320 mt), and EU27 + UK (-10 mt). Exports to Mexico (71,449 mt, +14%) were the third highest on record after the October (73,673 mt) and November (77,753 mt) totals. Exports slowed to Japan (31,373 mt, -4%), while exports to Korea (13,947 mt, +2%) were the highest since June. Exports to Canada (16,142 mt, +6%) were the lowest since August but were higher year-over-year. Combined exports to China/HK totaled 13,423 mt, -76% and the lowest since February 2019. Exports to China (13,016 mt, -76%) were also the lowest since February 2019, and exports also slowed further to Hong Kong (407 mt, -68%). Exports to Colombia (9,259 mt, +31%) were very strong for the third consecutive month in December, but exports slowed to the lowest level in recent years to Chile (620 mt, -81%). Exports were record large to Panama (6,691 mt, +71%) and remained strong to the Dominican Republic (5,054 mt, +27%), Costa Rica (968 mt, +130%), and El Salvador (815 mt, +7%) in December, but exports dropped below year-ago levels to Honduras (3,598 mt, -6%), Guatemala (1,397 mt, -12%), and Nicaragua (552 mt, -64%). Exports to Australia (1,594 mt, -72%) slowed further in December and were down sharply year-over-year, and exports to New Zealand (377 mt, -45%) were also lower. Exports to the Philippines (869 mt, -72%) rebounded a bit from the recent low of 755 mt in November but otherwise remained below all recent years.

December pork variety meat exports totaled 35,083 mt, down 13% or -5,350 mt from last year and down 19% from 2019 (and the lowest since July 2020). Compared to December 2020, volume was higher to Canada (+550 mt), ASEAN (+340 mt), Korea (+220 mt), Caribbean + DR (+220 mt), Japan (+160 mt), and Central America (+10 mt), while exports were lower to China/HK (-5,100 mt), South America (-1,400 mt), Mexico (-140 mt), and Taiwan (-110 mt). Combined pork variety meat exports to China/HK were the lowest since July 2020 at 20,439 mt, -20%. Exports to China (20,389 mt, -18%) were also the lowest since July 2020, and exports to Hong Kong ( 50 mt, -93%) have been minimal since April. Exports to Mexico (8,543 mt, -2%) were the lowest since September 2020. Exports to Canada (1,532 mt, +56%) were the highest since July 2020. Pork variety meat exports remained strong to the Philippines (1,361 mt, +39%). Exports to Korea (756 mt, +42%) were higher year-over-year for the 7th consecutive month, and exports to Japan (+618 mt, +34%) were higher year-over-year for the 8th consecutive month in December.

American Pork & Variety Meat Export Value in December 2021

American Pork & Variety Meat Export Volume in December 2021

Exports to Guatemala (314 mt, -3%) were down slightly from 2020, but exports to Honduras (230 mt, +93%) equaled the large volume from June 2021 and were otherwise the highest since 2013. December exports to the Dominican Republic (215 mt, +975%) were steady with the November volume and were otherwise the highest since March. Exports slowed to Colombia (273 mt, -9%) and were down sharply to Chile (245 mt, -85%) from 2020’s record volumes.

January – December pork and variety meat exports totaled 2.922 million mt, down 2% or -55,000 mt from the 2020 record, while export value was a record $8.11 billion, up 5% or +$392 million. Export volume was higher year-over-year to Mexico (+186,000 mt), Central America (+40,500 mt), South America (+19,700 mt), Caribbean + DR (+18,100 mt), ASEAN (+11,700 mt), Korea (+10,000 mt), Japan (+7,800 mt), and EU27 + UK (+280 mt), while exports were lower to China/HK (-301,000 mt), Australia/NZ (-21,600 mt), Taiwan (-15,500 mt), Canada (-5,600 mt), Surrounding Russia Region (-1,500 mt), and Africa (-520 mt).

December pork exports accounted for 22.5% of pork production and 25.0% when including variety meats as compared to 26.1% and 28.8% for December 2020. January – December pork exports accounted for 26.0% of production and 29.4% when including variety meats, compared to 26.5% and 29.3% for January – December 2020.

December 2021 pork export value per head averaged $54.65/head, down $5.22/head or -9% from $59.87/head in December 2020. January – December 2021 pork export value per head averaged $62.86/head, up $4.21/head or +7% from $58.65/head for January – December 2020.

SOURCE: USMEF