USA - Asia’s US pork imports show mixed performance

Asia's US pork imports showed mixed performance in the first quarter of this year, with Taiwan and the Asean region showing remarkable growth while China/Hong Kong brought in smaller volumes and Japan slowed down on buying in March. Taiwan’s imports of US pork plus pork variety meat in the first quarter increased 158% in volume and 121% in value term over the same period a year ago. Imports by Asean countries increased 56% in volume and 58% in value. Japan’s imports in the first quarter escalated 13% in volume and 26% in value, but performance in March rose only 1% in value but dropped 3.5% in volume over the same month last year. China/Hong Kong's imports dipped 36% over the first quarter of 2008.