U.S. Exports More Pork Than Beef and Poultry

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – It’s no surprise that exports are an important market outlet for U.S. pork production.

But did you know that exports are even more important to the pork industry than they are to either the beef or poultry industries?

According to Dr. Jim Mintert, director of the Purdue University Center for Commercial Agriculture, U.S. exports of pork, beef, and poultry all began to increase significantly starting in the mid-1980s and have grown sharply since then but pork’s share of pork exports have exceeded beef since 2003 and has poultry for over a decade.

Through July of this year, 27 percent of U.S. pork production was exported while in comparison, combined exports of chicken and turkey total 17 percent and beef exports account for just 12 percent of all domestic production.

China’s share of U.S. pork exports has increased from 6 percent in 2018 to 28 percent in 2020. By 2021 the largest gains have been to Mexico.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)