Europe notes a third drop in pork export sales

 Pork exporters in the European Union have experienced significant sales and revenue declines this year.

Pork and offal exports, excluding trade with the United Kingdom, fell by almost 28% year-on-year to 1.85 million tonnes slaughter weight from January to May, according to the Brussels-based Commission. It also meant a €1.56bn or 27% decline in export earnings to €4.15bn. This was almost exclusively due to weak sales in China. The volume of pork shipped to China from the EU decreased by almost 943 thousand tons, or 62%, to 565.7 thousand tons; corresponding export earnings fell by more than 2.2 billion euros, or 67%, to 1.07 billion euros.

In addition, exports to Hong Kong fell by about two-thirds from last year to just 34,270 tons. 30,800 metric tons, about 60% less EU goods, were sold to Vietnam, which was still a strong market last year. However, for all other destinations, trade data show in some cases a significant increase in pork exports from the Union. Sales to Japan, for example, more than doubled to 206,900 tonnes as comparatively favorable prices and a lower euro exchange rate made buying frozen goods from the EU more attractive. Exports to South Korea even rose by a good 70% to 155,300 tons and to the Philippines by more than 30% to 207,600 tons.

These were all markets in which the United States lost market share. Spain remained the largest EU pork exporter with 692,980 t; however, this is almost 30% less than in the first five months of 2021. Danish exports fell by 25.4% to 319,050 tons. Germany, on the other hand, as the former EU pork exporter, is becoming less and less important. Due to an export ban due to African swine fever (ASF), sales of German pork, including by-products, to third countries fell by 42.3% to 119,060 tonnes compared to the same period last year.