Pork Producers Find Opportunities in Indonesia

US Meat Export Federation Chair, Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Minnesota, recently traveled to Indonesia to see the market potential firsthand. While Indonesia is a majority Muslim country, Spronk notes, there is strong potential for US pork sales.

“You know, if you really looked at it, you think, well, 200 and, yeah, 75 280 million people. I believe it's 85 to 87% are Muslim, kind of going wow, you know, they're not going to have any pork products. But when you actually take the 17% remaining, you know, it's 35 to 36 million people. And, you know, that's, that's Canada. And so there's still a lot of opportunity. I think we were 1.13 kilograms per capita consumption. It reminds me of Columbia, where you were low teens per capita consumption, where you actually came in and doubled the consumption over a 10-year period. I think it's got great opportunities to be able to do that. But I know we don't have a free trade agreement. Really. We've only got a 5% tariff rate in there. Sure appears to me that the quotas that they're artificially putting on from a government standpoint, but I think it's the opportunity is there for us, and we just need to be present. We just it's going to be a long-term growth market in my mind.

Though current volumes are small USMEF says market share for US pork has increased dramatically in 2024 as exports from the European Union to the region have declined.