U.S. meat exporters give advice to packers

U.S. meat exporters give advice to packers    The U.S. Meat Export Federation is visiting packers this week to identify types of beef and pork cuts that will fuel more U.S. meat shipments to Latin America.
   “We want to raise the level of awareness of this market by visiting packers and investigating potential for targeting this market with cuts that may be left over after packers have shipped cuts specific to other markets,” said Kevin Smith, assistant director of export services for the federation, in a statement.
   According to the federation, Latin America now accounts for less than 2 percent of all beef and pork exports from the United States.
   “One of the key export products to the region has been pork and beef variety meat,” said Ricardo Vernazza-Paganini, the federation’s director for Central and South America. “While variety meat is low in demand and price in the U.S. market, these products are largely consumed by Central and South American countries. Therefore, we understand there is an opportunity to increase the margins of these low-value commodities.”
   Federation officials have scheduled a trip this fall to visit importers in Latin America and share information on their U.S. visits. The federation plans to compile its findings from both U.S. and Latin American visits to establish a new product development strategy. The federation will then organize seminars for U.S. packers in the spring of 2007 as a way to share these findings and product ideas.