USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) recently published U.S. poultry export and import data for May 2016, as well as for red meat and pork. The export and import data is available here. According to the figures, exports of poultry meat and products (excluding eggs) in the first half of 2016 did not follow the seasonal trends that were established in prior years.
Between January-May, exports were 6.7 percent lower that the same time period in 2015. Total exports during that time period in 2016 were 1.45 MMT compared to 1.55 MMT in 2015. On a month-by-month basis, however, 2016 poultry exports did return to the 2015 level in May at 308,700 MT.
Despite importing 6.9 percent less U.S. poultry so far in 2016, Mexico remained the largest trading partner of poultry meat, importing 19.1 percent of total poultry exports. Mexico imported 276,600 MT between January-May of this year. Hong Kong remained in second place, importing 103,400 MT between January-May, an 18.2 percent decrease from the same period in 2015.
