IARN — The U.S. Meat Export Federation says one of this year’s best comeback stories for U.S. pork and beef exports has been the strong rebound in Colombia.
Through the first three quarters of the year, USMEF reports pork shipments to Colombia topped 70,000 metric tons, up 55% from a year ago, and jumped 70% in value to nearly $170 million. Beef exports to Colombia climbed 79% above last year to more than 5,000 metric tons, valued at $23.4 million, an 82% increase.
Don Mason serves as USMEF’s representative in Columbia. He explains that the 2020 downturn in demand actually began prior to COVID-19, driven by devaluation of the Colombian peso and other economic headwinds.
“The past few years have been great in Colombia,” Mason said. “The demand, especially on the pork side, has been building pretty steadily. Just before COVID, the dollar started charging ahead against the peso. The peso was losing value at the beginning of 2020. It started tapping the breaks a little bit on some of our imports and then COVID hit. It really put the skids underneath the imports. The foodservice industry pretty much shutdown completely. Colombia had the longest lockdown at that time of any country in the world. A total lockdown, and it really hammered the imports into Colombia at that time. 2020 was a lost cause and definitely suffered on the import side.”
But Mason notes that even with its economy still struggling, Colombia’s demand for U.S. red meat strengthened significantly this year and he looks forward to further improvement in 2022.
“As we go into next year, maybe more important than the actual total numbers, what I’m seeing is a great positive attitude on the part of importers,” Mason said. “They complain a little bit about prices, and then they go right ahead and order some more. I’m seeing optimism in that market. Like in many places in the world, there is this impatience with the situation. They are starting to break out of their cocoon again. They are eating in restaurants again. Things are starting to normalize in Colombia and I’m looking for great things for 2022.”
For more information, visit usmef.org.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Pictured: Don Mason (Photo by USMEF)
