EU: Declining demand from China has not been offset by increased demand from other Asian markets

The picture of pork exports from the EU at the end of 2021 is different from what happened a year earlier. Lower demand for pork in the Chinese market led to a 16% drop in off-block shipments reported in September.

In September 2021, 443,000 tons of pork were exported and the situation did not change much over the next 3 months. For fresh/frozen pork alone, volumes are down by about one-fifth compared to 2020 to 262,000 tons. The decline was entirely driven by CHINA, which traded just 90,000 tons, even less than half of the previous year's level. “This reflects a drop in demand for imports in China due to increased production. There has been a slight increase in products directed to other Asian markets.

By-products exports also fell 9% to 107,000 tons, with shipments down markedly to both China (-12% to 60,000 tons) and Hong Kong (-86% to 3,000 tons). This decline was somewhat offset by an increase in volumes sent to the Philippines (+86% to 11,000 tons),” said Bethan Wilkins, Senior Analyst at AHDB. Year-to-date figures paint a different picture, with EU pork exports up 5% year-over-year at 4.4 Mt. Stronger demand growth from the Philippines earlier in the year, along with improved trade with China supported supply volumes.

“Trade from the Philippines more than doubled year-over-year for this period as a whole to 228,000 tons. Trade with China over the same period as a whole decreased only by 9%, amounting to 2.1 million tons. / frozen pork as a whole recorded an increase of 6%, while the trade in offal increased by only 2%,” adds the expert.