The National Pork Board has announced it will undertake a study to explore alternatives to promoting pork's sustainability and quality benefits in global markets. To be conducted by SIAM Professionals LLC, the study will look at existing strategies and partners to identify ways to improve pork's position as the "global meat of choice."
The study will be funded with checkoff dollars and will evaluate the effectiveness of current global marketing efforts and identify potential partnerships and new marketing tools for promotion. SIAM specializes in evaluating and developing international market opportunities for the food and ag industry.
Chris Novak, chief executive officer, NPB, says: "Throughout the world, pork is the single most consumed meat. The popularity of U.S. pork is driven by its taste, versatility as a recipe and menu item, and affordable cost. For many years, pork has been marketed globally with all other meats, and it's our intention to determine the ideal way to market U.S. pork on an international basis."
He adds this is part of the group's ongoing commitment to examine all checkoff programs for continuous improvement.
Euromonitor International estimates global pork sales will grow by 12% in the 2013-2018 forecast period, adding 10.6 million metric tons in sales volume by 2018. Most of this increase will come from emerging markets, according to NPB including Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America where population incomes are on the rise.
In the first six months of 2014, pork exports rose 9% from the same time period a year earlier, according to USDA Foreign Agricultural Service figures. Most of those gains came from Mexico and continued Asia demand.
NPB has funded international market development activities through the U.S. Meat Export Federation for more than 25 years and is interested in further expanding how U.S. pork is marketed on a worldwide basis. SIAMÂ will investigate the potential for a revised or complementary approach, developing systems with a focus on identifying new and emerging markets, incorporating new messages, and more effectively measuring results.
Results from the study are expected by Spring 2015.
