The Vice-President Technical Services and Marketing Programs with Canada Pork International says the Canadian pork sector is doing an excellent job providing the quality attributes being demanded by global customers.
In an effort to expand its share of the global market the Canadian Pork sector has been focused on producing the kinds of pork international customers are looking, with an emphasis on providing the quality attributes required by specific markets and by specific end users.
Michael Young, the Vice-President Technical Services and Marketing Programs with Canada Pork International, says the quality attributes specific end users are looking for vary considerably.
For example the ham and sausage processing industry, they prefer lean product because they’re building lean hams and sausages where as the retail sector wants something sort of in the middle with an ideal amount of fat but not too much and then the chefs want a lot of flavor and a lot of fat.
You’ve really got three completely different schools of thinking and these are all very big market segments so we have to be in a position to give them the products that they’re looking for.
The Canadian industry is doing an excellent job of producing the kinds of pork that our global customers are looking for in terms color, marbling and flavor and yield, muscle confirmation and carcass quality.
~ Michael Young, Canada Pork International
Young notes, while the United States is by far Canada’s largest export market by volume, it’s primarily a commodities market but the most lucrative market and the most demanding market is Japan. He says Canadian suppliers have worked closely with Japanese customers to change the product specifications, to correct the packaging sizes and meet color and consistency requirements to satisfy their needs and, as a result, the Canadian pork sector is poised to over take the United States as the number one supplier of fresh chilled pork to Japan in the coming year.
