Corn Industry Leader Sees Strong Potential for U.S. Meat in Singapore, Malaysia

Dean Meyer is a corn, soybean and livestock producer from Rock Rapids, Iowa, who serves on the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) executive committee and as a director of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board. Meyer recently returned from a trade mission to Singapore and Malaysia in which a diverse delegation of agricultural leaders promoted Iowa products, including beef and pork.

USMEF’s ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) operations are headquartered in Singapore, and the delegation had an opportunity to meet with USMEF-ASEAN staff and with importers and other food industry representatives from Singapore and Malaysia. Meyer observed strong opportunities for U.S. meat in Singapore, in both the high-end foodservice and processing sectors. He notes that despite strict halal certification requirements, U.S. beef has begun to gain traction in Malaysia, and adds that there are also opportunities for U.S. pork among Malaysia’s non-Muslim population.

TRANSCRIPT:

Joe Schuele: Dean Meyer of Rock Rapids, Iowa serves on the U.S. Meat Export Federation Executive Committee and as a director of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board. Meyer recently returned from a trade mission to Singapore and Malaysia and offers his observations in the USMEF report.

Dean Meyer: Singapore is a high-end foodservice type of country, a lot of white tablecloth restaurants. It is also a major port for the ASEAN countries, so we met with a couple of different processors there that bring pork and in and further process it and distribute it out into the various ASEAN countries. Vietnam is a big one for them. They source some of their product from the Unites States.

Joe Schuele: Despite some trade obstacles, Meyer also sees great promise in the Malaysian market.

Dean Meyer: We went on to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and it’s an open country to trade, which gives us opportunity, but we have to remember that they have a 70 percent Muslim population, so we have to learn how to deal with halal. We’re excited that one packing company from Iowa met the qualifications and is currently marketing there. We were involved in the welcoming in celebration, and I know it’s just the beginning and it’s going to take time to develop, but hopefully other packers and traders can get on board because what gives that country opportunity is age – I think the average age is in the 20s and half the population is under age 24. The people you meet with there are all young individuals. They made the comment that there are a thousand restaurants opening annually there, and if we can continue to push the halal beef there – and there’s actually a fair amount of pork we’re marketing into there. A percentage of the population that is not Muslim consumes a lot of pork. We’ve got to be there to promote our product. We’ve got the right people there, it’s just a matter of continuing being there and working the system.

Joe Schuele: For more on this and other trade issues, please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Joe Schuele.