Audio: Fresh Items at Retail Key to Growing Exports to Caribbean

While many associate U.S. meat exports to the Caribbean with the hospitality and tourism industries, another key to export growth is serving the local population. To accomplish this, the U.S. industry must place a larger volume of fresh, chilled beef and pork items in the region’s retail supermarkets, where the selection has often been limited to frozen meat.

Elizabeth Wunderlich, Caribbean representative for the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), addresses this issue in the attached audio report. She explains that chilled retail beef items are gaining momentum in the region, especially in some smaller eastern Caribbean markets. Pork is a bigger challenge due to shelf life, but Wunderlich also sees chilled U.S. pork gaining traction in these markets.

Last year, U.S. beef and beef variety meat exports to the Caribbean totaled 19,479 metric tons valued at $121.7 million – slightly below the 2012 pace. U.S. pork and pork variety meat exports totaled 41,303 metric tons valued at just under $100 million – increases of 18 percent in volume and 14 percent in value over the previous year.

TRANSCRIPT:

Joe Schuele: In this U.S. Meat Export Federation report, we speak with Elizabeth Wunderlich, USMEF Caribbean representative. Many associate meat exports to the Caribbean with the hospitality and tourism industries, but another key to growth is serving the local population and that means getting fresh meat into the retail supermarkets.

Elizabeth Wunderlich: Almost all the islands, except maybe some of the more advanced islands like, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Caymans, those all have been a fresh market, but most of the rest of the Caribbean has always been a frozen market. When they see fresh meet they associate that with local meat, because they could never imagine that we could bring in chilled containers from the United States. It has been a slow evolution to help them retrain their butchers in how you use a knife skill instead of a band saw skill, but if we want to grow in the local culture that’s what we have to do. We have to provide fresh items that are retail friendly at a decent price point and with the quality image that American beef and pork carry.

Joe Schuele: some of the strongest momentum for fresh meat at retail has been in the eastern Caribbean.

Elizabeth Wunderlich: We’ve been working in the little eastern Caribbean markets and it’s kind of interesting, you would think that they would be last to jump on ship in terms of the fresh meat programs, but my markets like; St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Dominica, Trinidad to a small extent, St. Martin, St. Bart's, have also come on board. It’s been very interesting to watch the interest in smaller eastern Caribbean, smaller meaning the retail fresh meat sales are being smaller. The first that they transition into is of course beef, it’s harder with pork because of the shelf life, but they are working very hard to bring in chilled pork at a temperature that they can still merchandise and keep the quality up.

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.