Strong Turnout for Meet the Buyers Event in Des Moines

About 25 representatives from 13 U.S. suppliers turned out last week in West Des Moines, Iowa, for the opportunity to meet pork buyers from the ASEAN and Oceania regions face-to-face. With support from the Pork Checkoff and the Market Access Program (MAP), USMEF hosted 14 buyers from these rapidly growing markets, with countries represented including Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

During their visit to the United States, the ASEAN pork buyers visited the National Pork Board headquarters and toured three pork processing facilities: the Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo, Iowa, the LPB, Inc. facility in Earlham, Iowa, and the Pine Ridge Farms location in Des Moines. They also toured a number of local supermarkets and restaurants, as well as the trading headquarters of Porky Products in Sherman Oaks, Calif.

The buyers from the Oceania region visited many of the same facilities, but also toured the Trim-Rite, Inc. processing facility in Carpentersville, Ill.

Suppliers talk business in Des Moines with pork buyers from the ASEAN and Oceania regions

“We were very pleased with the turnout in Des Moines and the strong interest shown by suppliers in serving these markets,” said USMEF-ASEAN Director Sabrina Yin. “The event was extremely productive for buyers and suppliers alike.”

Oceania has been a particularly strong performer for U.S. pork this year, as January-August exports of pork plus pork variety meat to the region have increased by 23 percent in volume and 19 percent in value over the same period in 2008. Exports to Australia account for most of this momentum, increasing by 26 percent in volume and 23 percent in value, reaching 34,238 metric tons (75.5 million pounds) valued at $82.6 million.

Caution Urged on Pork Exports to Thailand

Last week, USMEF reported that the restrictions placed on exports of unprocessed pork and porcine hides to Thailand due to the H1N1 influenza scare had been lifted, and that the  FSIS Export Library  had been updated to allow export of these products provided they are derived from hogs slaughtered on or after May 20, 2009.

To date, the Export Library still states that the market has reopened. More recent correspondence, however, has raised serious doubts about whether U.S. pork will be allowed entry into Thailand. Therefore, exporters are advised to proceed with extreme caution before shipping any pork products to this market.

USMEF will provide additional information as it becomes available. If you have questions or already have shipments en route to Thailand, please contact Kevin Smith at ksmith@usmef.org.