In a new report, Rabobank states that the U.S. pork industry is projected to continue in expansion mode through 2025, with exports increasingly being the most important component of demand. To remain in this profitable expansion mode, the US will need to increase pork exports by 400,000 tons.
During the last decade, there was an inflexion point in the U.S. hog and pork sector, moving from sluggish production and tight margins to a production recovery phase incentivized by positive margins. Many factors were involved in this dynamic transition: the rise and then fall of feed costs; the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) outbreak, recovery, and aftermath; the improvement of consumption; and the rise in export demand.