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US pork exports to Australia on the rise

Australia is becoming one of the fastest growing markets for US pork. 

US Meat Export Federation’s Joel Haggard says Australia has always been perceived as a beef eating nation, but the dynamic has shifted. 

He says research from their government’s shows Australians are consuming just under 62 pounds of pork annually.  “That slightly edges out per capita beef consumption – which has been in long-term decline,” he says.  “That pork consumption was more than double the amount the average Australian consumed in 1975.”

US pork exports to Australia were valued at more than $227 million last year and Haggard says the momentum is growing.  “For the first four months of 2019 the pace of US shipments was up 37 percent,” he says. 

And, he says, the market continues to grow despite Australia’s strict import restrictions that require US pork to be cooked before it is sold in the Australian marketplace.