US poultry exports hit record

Exports of US poultrymeat and table eggs set year-on-year records for the first six months of 2012 in both quantity and value, according to the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council (USAPEEC).

Citing data from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), the council said that June 2012 had seen the highest export value ever recorded for the month for poultrymeat, with $427m earned from 323,000t of sales.

The FAS reported that exports of US chicken, turkey and duckmeat for January-to-June this year reached more than 1.9m tonnes at a value of $2.6bn, increasing 12% and 22% respectively over the same period in 2011.

Table egg exports hit 49.6m doz in the first half of the year and were valued at $43.7m, up 34% and 31% respectively.

Processed egg products in June 2012 reached $11.3m, up 20% over June 2012. Despite value exports to Japan decreasing by 8% to $3.7m, the value of shipments to the EU increased by 42% to £3.7m, due to a lingering egg deficit in the EU.