USMEF Talks Pork at World Conference

September 8, 2009 — 

The US Meat Export Federation's (USMEF) senior vice president for Asia-Pacific Joel Haggard, speaking to the Fifth International Meat Secretariat (IMS) World Conference in Qingdao, China, described the impact of H1N1 pandemic influenza on pork consumption in China and discussed efficiencies in the U.S. pork industry.

Haggard noted that nearly two-thirds of China's consumers stopped eating pork in the early stages of the H1N1 influenza outbreak this year, and more than one in five Chinese consumers still believe that eating pork can result in catching the flu virus. According to the results of a recent survey of 1200 Chinese consumers, 54.7% of those who fear the connection between pork and the flu virus say that it is because the virus has been labeled "swine flu."

Contradicting the commonly held notion in international markets that U.S. pork producers receive substantial government subsidies, Haggard noted that increased production efficiencies achieved over the last 20 years have resulted in a decline in consumer prices. When adjusted for inflation, prices per pound for pork in the United States have declined from $2.40 per pound in 1980 to $1.60 per pound in 2008.

Source: USMEF