LITTLE ROCK — U.S. poultry and egg exports reached a record in 2012 because of a more diversified world market, an industry group said.
The export value of poultry meat and eggs reached $5.72 billion in 2012, up 12 percent compared with 2011, according to data from the Foreign Agricultural Service provided in a release from the U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council late Wednesday. Poultry and egg exports set individual annual records.
Figures on Arkansas exports were not available.
“While our traditional markets of Mexico and Russia remained at the top of the broiler markets, there were numerous changes, such as Angola and Taiwan moving into the top 10 broiler markets and Mexico growth as a market for eggs,” Jim Sumner, president of the Poultry and Egg Export Council, said in the release. “The greatest benefit for our industry is a much greater balance than we’ve ever before realized.”
This month Russia banned the importing of U.S. meat including beef, pork and turkey, contending the U.S. didn’t show the products were free of the feed additive ractopamine, which generally is considered safe in North America and is approved in small quantities by the United Nations.
H.L. Goodwin, professor of agriculture economics and agribusiness at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, said more trading partners limit the adverse effect by any one country.
He said the export increase shows developing economies are becoming more prosperous, allowing for some dietary substitutions - in this case grains for meat - increasing demand for U.S. products.
Arkansas ranked second in broiler production in the U.S. behind Georgia in 2011, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Arkansas is home to some of the country’s top poultry companies, including Springdale-based Tyson Foods Inc., the world’s largest meat producer.
According to the Tyson Foods Fiscal 2012 Fact Book, the company had $2.3 billion in international chicken sales for the year, unchanged from 2011. China, Mexico and Brazil were listed as top markets in 2012, though those sales include production from the company’s operations in Brazil, China, India and Mexico.
In 2011, broilers were Arkansas’ top agricultural commodity with sales of $2.7 billion, followed by soybeans at $1.4 billion and rice at $1.2 billion, according to the USDA.
Chicken meat ranked fourth is the state’s commodity exports with a value of $488.3 million, behind rice, soybeans and cotton.
U.S. poultry exports were valued at $5.5 billion for 2012,an 11 percent gain, and 4.1 million metric tons were shipped, up 5 percent when compared with the same period in 2011.
Egg exports were valued at $263.7 million, up 35 percent for 2012, and 274 million dozen were sent, up 24 percent compared with 2011.
Turkey exports were valued at $678.5 million, up 13 percent compared with 2011, also a record. Tonnage increased 14 percent to 361,597 tons for 2012, up 14 percent from 2011.
Arkansas ranked third in U.S. turkey production in 2011 with 28 million birds, behind Minnesota with 47 million and North Carolina with 30 million, according to the USDA. North Carolina-based Butterball employs more than 1,300 workers in Arkansas at plants in Huntsville, Jonesboro and Ozark.
Business, Pages 27 on 02/15/2013