DENVER — Riding an all-time high, US pork exports eclipsed previous records in both volume and value in 2024, according to data released by US Department of Agriculture and compiled by the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF). Meanwhile, beef value rose by 5% compared to 2023, despite a slight decrease in volume, as unit export values reached a record high. Lamb saw improvements in volume and value compared to a year ago.

December pork exports totaled 267,132 tonnes, slightly down from last year’s large volume, but value increased 1% to $771.8 million. With these results, US pork exports closed out the year with a total of 3.03 million tonnes, up 4% from 2023 and surpassing the record of 2.98 million tonnes achieved in 2020. Value likewise topped last year’s previous record by 6%, totaling $8.63 billion.

“Market diversification has been a key goal of the US pork industry for many years, and the resulting broad-based growth has never been more evident than in 2024,” said Dan Halstrom, USMEF president and chief executive officer. “While exports to Mexico were record-large for the fourth consecutive year, US pork’s footprint expanded greatly in the Western Hemisphere and made gains in the Asia-Pacific, which bolstered global export totals and pushed export value per head slaughtered to a new high of more than $66.”

Pork exports achieved annual volume and value records in Mexico, Central America, Colombia, New Zealand, Malaysia and several Caribbean markets. Value records were reached in South Korea, Australia and the Dominican Republic.

On the beef side, December exports totaled 110,171 tonnes, a 1.5% increase year-over-year. Value jumped 4% to $897.6 million — the highest since July. For the full year, beef exports were down from 2023 by 0.5%, totaling 1.29 million tonnes, while value increased 5% to $10.45 billion.

“Considering the formidable headwinds in the large Asian markets — especially in the first half of the year — and the challenges on the supply side, beef exports exceeded expectations in 2024,” Halstrom said. “The economic climate in Asia has shown modest improvement and, in the meantime, demand for US beef strengthened in other regions, including double-digit growth in Mexico.

“The US beef industry continues to export a steady percentage of production at higher prices, as evidenced by export value per head of fed slaughter reaching $415. US beef always sells at a premium internationally, and the strong US dollar contributed to further increases in pricing in local currencies. So the 2024 results confirm that global demand is extremely resilient.”

Through a market diversification strategy, US beef exports achieved annual volume and value records in several emerging markets, such as the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, the Leeward-Windward Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Turks and Caicos, Cuba, Guyana, Singapore and Morocco. Value records were reached in the Bahamas, Bermuda, Qatar, Jordan and Bahrain.

US lamb exports performed well this year with a 16% jump in volume year-over-year to 2,723 tonnes and a 14% climb in value to $14.3 million. For lamb muscle cuts, exports totaled 2,003 tonnes valued at $11.8 million, each down slightly from 2023.

Mexico and the Caribbean were the largest destinations for US lamb muscle cuts. Exports to the Caribbean were up 14% to 976 tonnes, valued at $7.1 million — a 13% increase fueled in part by doubling of shipments to the Bahamas. Shipments to Mexico were the highest since 2019 at 759 tonnes, up 21% from last year as a wider range of cuts — including shoulder and flap meat — gained traction in Mexico’s foodservice sector. Export value to Mexico soared 20% to $2.4 million.