NEW YORK – US meat exports are expected to increase in 2012, and China's demand for meat will be a key driver.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Brett Stuart, co-founder of Global AgriTrends, forecast US pork exports to advance 2.7 percent, beef exports to rise 10.8 percent and broilers to increase 2.4 percent.

Stuart said demand from South Korea also will be strong because an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2011 led to a culling of about 30 percent of the country's hog inventory. Some of those farms will not come back into production, so volumes of pork could be as much as 35 percent above the five-year average, he said.