Audio: Anuga Food Show Provides U.S. Meat Industry Close Look at Markets, Competition

Anuga, Europe’s biennial food and beverage fair and one of the world’s largest trade shows, recently took place in Cologne, Germany. The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), which participated in Anuga to explore opportunities in the global marketplace for U.S. beef, pork and lamb, was among 7,000 exhibitors from 108 countries.

Philip Seng, USMEF President and CEO, was part of the USMEF team that met with importers and food companies from both established and emerging markets. He describes Anuga as a meeting place for the world’s meat industry, where attendees get a chance to see what’s new and what’s changing in the world market. For the U.S. meat industry, Anuga is also an opportunity to learn what competitors are doing in various markets.


TRANSCRIPT:

Ralph Loos: In this U.S. Meat Export Federation report, we speak with USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng, who was in Cologne, Germany for the global food trade show Anuga. Held every two years, Anuga brings together key players in global food trade, including a strong contingent from the meat industry.

Philip Seng: We see a large contingent of people from all over the globe, especially from Asia, South America, Africa, everywhere, so it’s a very good opportunity to actually meet and engage with the world’s meat industry, if you will. It’s a place that’s very vibrant, there’s a lot of orders that are initialed. We had a very large booth where people could meet, they could conduct business, and a very nice presentation of products and of recipes, so a very complete show.

Ralph Loos: The 2015 edition of Anuga attracted more than 160,000 visitors from 192 countries. The large and diverse audience provided opportunities for USMEF and the U.S. meat industry to meet with companies from many emerging markets, including the Middle East and Greater Russia. As Seng notes, Anuga participants also included a number of long-time business partners in Europe who continue to appreciate U.S. red meat.

Philip Seng: One of the things that everybody recognizes is years ago Europe was a very good market for the United States, both in the beef and the pork complex. Then of course through the ‘80s and through some differences as far as the production methodologies, there’s been some challenges to our industry. But I think the thing that really strikes you when you go to a show like this is still the tremendous interest in obtaining our product, whether it be from the beef or the pork standpoint. There’s the existing markets but also the emerging markets that are there, not only from the Middle East or Greater Russia, but from all over. I also think it’s also a wonderful place to see our major competitors, where you can see the types of themes and the types of products they’re emphasizing because that’s where they debut many of these things.

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