US Meat Exports to Chile Surge

U.S. Meat Exports to Chile Surge

I’m KayDee Gilkey with today’s Open Range.

In 2012, U.S. beef and pork exports to Chile broke the $100 million mark - $59.1 million for beef and $42.6 million for pork. This is a remarkable milestone, given how recently U.S. meat products established its initial presence in this market.
 
A variety of factors contributed to this rapid surge in U.S. exports, including market access improvements for U.S. products, an expanding middle class with a growing appetite for high-quality meat products and key competitors being temporarily absent from the market.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation South America representative Jessica Julca shares that while Paraguayan beef is set to re-enter Chile after an FMD-related absence, she does not expect grain-fed U.S. beef to lose ground because of its unique position in the market.

Julca: “The position of U.S. is a bit different because we are talking about lean beef from Paraguay which is more a competitor for Australian beef, for example, not for U.S. The U.S. is a good position as we are sending choice beef, which has more marbling so the people that are now consuming U.S. beef won’t change to Paraguayan. So we will continue to have our current market share. I think we could increase our volume.”