In the end, domestic demand held strong after a brief dip in early May. For the year ending June 2009, retail sales of fresh pork grew by 5.4 percent in volume and 6.0 percent in value. The retail meat case saw aggressive promotion activity to counter the negative news of H1N1, and ham sales increased in total dollars, volume, and average price. Pork remains a great consumer value.
Internationally, while the export market could not repeat the spectacular performance of 2008, it has returned to the respectable upward trend established in 2004. In 2008, pork exports accounted for just over 20 percent of the total U.S. production of pork. The slowdown in the world economy, coupled with the irrational fear of H1N1, has tempered the pace of growth of U.S. pork exports. Exports are expected to account for between 15 to 17 percent of total U.S. pork production in 2009.