Optimism about pork 🐷

Japan is one of the U.S.' strongest trading partners for beef, but continued COVID restrictions have limited the return of the foodservice sector in the country, even though restaurant traffic is beginning to rebound. Also, buyers are expressing a growing interest in pork for retail.

• U.S. Meat Export Federation President and CEO Dan Halstrom notes that even though the government wants to keep things open, people are still worried – and fully masked inside and outside. So while food service is up, that’s from a very low base a year ago.
• At the same time, retail and online e-commerce continue to boom.

Considering that certain cuts may be a little cheaper than beef and that poultry prices are high, there’s a lot of optimism about retail pork.

According to Mr. Halstrom, a trade seminar is to be held in Tokyo on September 16 to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the U.S. Meat Export Federation office established in Japan. It will be a chance to remind people of the strength of U.S. beef, pork, and lamb.