Strategic planning becomes vital as pork exports to China are expected to slow

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Strategic planning becomes vital as pork exports to China are expected to slow

China’s purchases of US pork are expected to slow over the next three to five years as the country continues to rebuild its hog herd.

CoBank lead economist Will Sawyer says expanding market access for US pork products will be important.  “Today when you look at China, Japan, Mexico, and South Korea, that’s a huge portion of the story,” he says.  “We need to get those markets right if we’re going to be able to work through what could be a challenging next five years in China and trying to regain market share in some of these other priority markets.”

He tells Brownfield pork producers will need to be strategic in their risk management strategies, which may also mean improving relationships between producers and processors.  “We saw time and time again that those producers who had significant, strategic, and deep relationships with their processors were able to weather through that storm (related to the COVID-19 related slowdowns and shutdowns) better than the others,” he says. 

According to a recent CoBank’s report, China accounts for nearly one-third of all US pork exports. 

AUDIO: Will Sawyer, CoBank