USMEF: "The worst of China's port congestion seems to be behind us"
China's resumption of cargo shipments and port logistics is supporting red meat production in the US. According to a statement offered by USMEF, last week slaughter figures for both hogs and cattle were up, compared to those reported a year ago. "US hog slaughter last week totaled 2.65 million head, up 8% from a year ago, and so far this year slaughter is up 4%. US cattle slaughter last week totaled 630,000 head, up 3.6% from last year, and year-to-date it is up 2% with beef production up 3.7%, due to heavier cattle weights. Weekly US export data suggests export volumes have also continued on a strong pace, with pork shipments averaging 43,000 tonnes per week thus far this year and beef shipments averaging 17,300 tonnes. Pork exports are on a record pace and beef exports are strong as well.
There have certainly been instances in which cargo movement has slowed, particularly port clearances into China at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. But the worst of China's port congestion seems to be behind us, with some ports in the region already reporting near-normal cargo flows," mentioned Joe Schuele, Vice President, US Meat Export Federation (USMEF).
However, the ongoing coronavirus global crisis may worsen meat exports in the following months as many of the regions in the world are in a state of alert, including the US and neighboring countries in North America. "Meanwhile US meat production continues on a record pace and the entire U.S. supply chain, along with their importers, are doing their best to deal with logistical challenges. USMEF is monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely in all of our export markets, but it is far too early to know which countries will be most impacted or what the magnitude will be. We have so far seen strong growth in retail demand for US beef and pork, but a sharp slowdown in foodservice demand across several markets. Fortunately, the demand for red meat continues, as a healthy staple, but there are likely to be further shifts in how that demand is met, including through the expansion of ecommerce and other innovative ways of accommodating consumers," added Joe Schuele.
In China, besides the decongestion of the major ports, encouraging news are coming from the foodservice sector, which looks ready to resume activity in restaurants, even if at a slow pace. According to a recent report released by the Research Institute of China Hospitality Association, quoted by Beef To China platform, some catering enterprises in low-risk areas are gradually returning to work, and the work resumption rate of large restaurant chains is nearly 60%, which is higher than the average work resumption rate of the whole catering industry.
"Since last week, 2020, Xibei Restaurant announced that, currently, 156 of its 376 stores across the country have resumed normal operation. Apart from that, on March 11, 2020, Haidilao, which had been closed for more than a month, finally announced that it would resume works, and its 85 restaurants in 15 cities would resume works on March 12.
However, the current rate of resumption of work in this industry is still relatively low. The work resumption rate of 93% of catering enterprises is below 30%, and the work resumption rate of 73% of catering enterprises is below 10%. At present, catering enterprises still face difficulties such as the high cost of resuming work", said the report.
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