United States-Pork exports

UNITED STATES-PORK EXPORTS.

U.S. exporters shipped almost 323 million pounds of pork to foreign destinations in January, 8.7 percent below January 2008. The three largest markets for U.S. pork in January were Japan (+21 percent, year-over-year), Mexico (+63 percent year over- year), and Canada (-9 percent year-over-year). In contrast, the three largest markets in January 2008 were Japan, China/Hong Kong, and Mexico. The China/Hong Kong region imported 24.3 million pounds of U.S. pork in January 2009, down 70 percent from a year earlier. Continuation of Mexico’s strong showing in January 2009 is doubtful, given North America’s weak macroeconomic outlook this year. Japan’s year-over-year increase may be due in part to a favorable U.S. dollar-yen exchange rate compared with competitors, particularly Denmark. The graph below suggests that since 2007, everything else equal, the Yen-U.S. dollar exchange rate has enhanced the competitiveness of U.S. pork.