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US pork exports to Panama are surging

US pork exports to Panama are off to a red-hot start for 2019, but now face additional tariffs.  Gerardo Rodriguez with the US Meat Export Federation says export volume to Panama has already exceeded 130 percent of the tariff rate quota that is included in the US-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement.  “This is a result of people looking more and more for the product,” he says.  “And more interest in finding US pork.”

Rodriguez says higher tariff rates will negatively impact some exports to Panama, but he doesn’t expect demand to completely dwindle.  “We also work with a certain niche who value what the product is about,” he says.  “And they will continue to buy the product.”

The higher tariff rates on US pork were implemented April 1 and will remain in effect through the end of the year.  Panama’s out-of-quota tariff rate for most US pork products is 54.4 percent – but have jumped to 70 percent.