Meat + Poultry - April 2009 - 20

INTERNATIONAL
Mexico's retaliatory tariff
spares U.S. meat, poultry

A butcher breaks down part of a carcass at a Chinese wet market.
(Photo courtesy of USMEF)

Pork exports to China, Russia
will be challenging in '09
U.S. pork exports set another all-time record in 2008, in part
due to record-large exports to China and Russia. But U.S.
Meat Export Federation economist Erin Daley said these two
markets might present more of a challenge in 2009.
"Pork was a pacesetter for U.S. red-meat exports during
2008 achieving a 17th consecutive record-setting year, with
value up 55 percent to nearly $4.9 billion," Daley said. "The U.S.
is currently the largest U.S pork exporter in the world."
When looking at U.S. pork exports as a percent of production, about one in four hogs - or 25 percent - were exported last year. "The China/Hong Kong region emerged
as number-two market for U.S. pork in 2008, but those
numbers are not likely going to be reached during 2009
mainly due to the increase in domestic Chinese production as we have already seen an increase of about 6 percent," Daley said. "Long-term, we're very optimistic about
China as a future market, but for 2009 the numbers will
likely be much smaller than 2008."
Other export areas of concern for 2009 include Russia.
"On the market-access side, Russia de-listed 33 U.S. pork
facilities and roughly 50 percent of U.S. slaughter capacity is not eligible for Russia at this point," Daley said. "We
have difﬁcult demand conditions combined with marketaccess issues that could make exports to this important
market a challenge this year."
20

MEAT&POULTRY

April 2009

www.MEATPOULTRY.com

Meat and poultry products were not included on the list
of U.S. products that will be subject to retaliatory tariffs
published by the Mexican government on March 18 in the
Ofﬁcial Diary, the American Meat Institute said. U.S. products subject to the tariffs because of the recent termination of the NAFTA pilot program to allow Mexican trucks
to operate on U.S. roads are
detailed on this list. The duties
took effect on March 19.
Among the products that
will be subjected to the tariff
are fruits and vegetables, juices, wines and Christmas trees.
Most agricultural products will be assessed punitive import tariffs of 20 percent, while some other goods will be
charged duties of up to 40 percent.
Mexico didn't specify just how long the retaliatory tariffs will remain in place, but it said it would reconsider
them as soon as the U.S. comes up with a trucking program to replace the pilot program.
Because of continued concerns about the safety of Mexican trucks, the U.S. Congress eliminated funding for a pilot cross-border trucking project in the ﬁscal 2009 omnibus
spending bill. The Mexican government argues, however,
that the trucking program ban puts the U.S. in violation of
NAFTA's cross-border trucking commitments.

U.S. beef, pork export
momentum maintained
January export results deﬁed expectations despite an economic downturn and other challenges as beef muscle-cut
exports increased 13 percent in volume (43,949 metric tons
or 96.9 million lbs.) and 15 percent in value (to $186.5 million) compared to January 2008.
Because beef variety-meat exports declined in both volume and value, total beef plus beef variety-meat exports
were up 4 percent in value to $233 million, and essentially
held even with January 2008 in terms of volume at 66,457
metric tons (146.5 million lbs).
Pork exports also achieved very solid results in January,
but with an increase in variety meat leading the way. Pork
muscle-cut exports declined by 4 percent in volume (to
112,417 metric tons or 247.8 million lbs) compared to January 2008, but increased by 2 percent in value to $295.8 million. Pork variety meat surged by 46 percent in volume (to
44,233 metric tons or 97.5 million lbs) and by 44 percent in
value to $64.4 million. This resulted in total pork plus pork
variety meat exports of 156,650 metric tons (345.3 million
lbs) valued at $360.2 million - an increase of 6 percent in
volume and 8 percent in value over January 2008.

http://www.MEATPOULTRY.com

Meat + Poultry - April 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat + Poultry - April 2009