White House Announces Argentina Will Open to U.S. Pork

The White House has announced that the United States and Argentina have reached an agreement that will allow U.S. pork to be exported to Argentina for the first time since 1992.

While more steps must be completed before U.S. pork shipments to Argentina can resume, Dan Halstrom, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) senior vice president for marketing, is confident that the U.S. industry will find opportunities in this promising market. Brazil is currently the main supplier to Argentina, holding about 90 percent of the imported pork market, with the remainder provided by the European Union. But Halstrom also sees room for new growth, as Argentina’s per capita pork consumption – though currently small at about 13 kilograms per year – has increased more than 50 percent since 2011.

More details on Argentina’s pork imports and pork consumption trends are available from the USMEF website.


TRANSCRIPT:

Joe Schuele: The White House has announced that is has reached an agreement with Argentina to open its market to U.S. pork for the first time since 1992. In this U.S. Meat Export Federation report, Senior Vice President for Marketing Dan Halstrom explains that some steps remain before pork shipments to Argentina can begin, but he’s optimistic that the U.S. industry can capture a share of this growing market.

Dan Halstrom: We still have to finalize protocol between the two governments, and probably there will be some sort of inspection systems audit, but it looks like it’s imminent and this is good news, and at some point soon we should be able to export pork down to Argentina for the first time in quite a few years. Brazil is a dominant supplier of imported pork in Argentina today and the EU also has the number two slot, but there’s no doubt that the final cut items such as hams, shoulders, picnics, trim – things like this that would go into especially the further processing sector, I think there’s no doubt the U.S. is well positioned to take some of that opportunity.

Joe Schuele: In addition to capturing existing market share in Argentina, Halstrom also sees opportunities for new growth, as Argentina’s per capita pork consumption is on the rise.

Dan Halstrom: In the case of Argentina, there’s an opportunity for generic growth, as well. The primary consumption is beef and poultry in Argentina, pork is a distant third, but at 13 kgs per year on the pork side of consumption, there’s room for generic growth. I think that you can expect to see the pork consumption grow in Argentina as it is in the rest of South America. Even though they produce a lot of pork in South America, this is also an opportunity for the import side.

Joe Schuele: For more information, please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Joe Schuele.