(Yicai) June 7 -- There is great growth potential in the Chinese market and a lot of space for US meat packers to expand, the US Meat Export Federation’s vice president for Asia Pacific recently told Yicai in an exclusive interview.

Less than 6 percent of China’s beef imports come from the US, so there is plenty of room for growth, Yang Jihae said at the International Food Exhibition held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre from May 28 to May 30. China buys most of its grain-fed beef from the US, even though grain-fed beef only accounts for a small proportion of its beef imports.

China was the third-largest importer of US beef in 2023, after South Korea and Japan, according to the federation’s data. Last year, the US exported around 189,000 tons of beef to the Chinese mainland, worth around USD1.6 billion.

US companies are also focusing on supplying a lesser quality of beef, which tastes the same as high-quality meat, to China’s ready meals market in the hope of boosting their market penetration in the country, Yang said.

China is also the second-largest importer of US pork, after Mexico, she said. The Chinese market is very important to the US pork industry, and it is the biggest importer of US pork byproducts, such as pigs’ trotters and hearts. Most of the US pork exports to China are in the form of these byproducts.

The majority of China’s pork byproduct imports come from the US at around 28 percent. Last year, China imported around 500,000 tons of pork byproducts from the US, with a value of USD1.2 billion.

Editor: Kim Taylor