United States Animal Oil & Fats insights

The national government decided to reduce the requirements and controls for food imports from a group of countries listed in Annex 2 of Decree 35/2025, including Australia, the United States, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the European Union bloc, among other cases. With this measure, and taking into account the exchange rate situation in Argentina, there is fear of the entry of products at lower prices than those offered by local companies. It happens that between the rise in costs and the deterioration of internal demand, companies have reduced their income, since they could not transfer the increase in cost they had to produce to the final price. Added to this is the exchange rate situation: with the dollar increasing at a slower rate than inflation, everything became more expensive in Argentina measured in the North American currency, which is used for global trade. This scenario undoubtedly reduces competitiveness. For example, beef slaughterhouses have a cost of their raw material

Donald Trump, the 47th President of the United States, will return to the White House on the 20th (local time). How will the domestic livestock industry environment change in the era of ‘Trump 2.0’? The Livestock Products Quality Evaluation Institute recently published a report titled ‘The Impact of the Trump 2.0 Era on the Livestock Industry’, pointing out that as the America First policy tone is further strengthened, the tendency to export pork to foreign countries will intensify as domestic pork production increases. Domestic agricultural and livestock products are recording a trade deficit with the United States. The amount of agricultural and livestock products imported from the United States is greater than the amount exported by us. Nevertheless, the United States is expected to use the agricultural and livestock industry as leverage to resolve its trade deficit. In particular, the report predicted that Korea will demand more agricultural and livestock products from the United States, focusing on ▲items of high interest to the United States, ▲items where the U.S. surplus is decreasing, and ▲items mainly imported from third countries. Among agricultural and livestock products, the import pressure on pork is expected to be the greatest. According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute and NH Investment & Securities Research Center, the import volume of pork from the US has steadily increased to 116,000 tons in 2022, 131,000 tons in 2023, and 162,000 tons last year. It is also noteworthy that the supply of pork in the US is increasing. Since domestic production of beef is decreasing, the import pressure is relatively small. The export pattern of our agricultural and livestock products to the US is also likely to change. This is because if the US imposes new tariffs on agricultural and food products or raises them, price competitiveness in the US may weaken. The proportion of livestock products among agricultural and food products exported to the US is low, but export volume has been increasing recently. Condensed milk has the highest proportion, followed by chicken, sausage, and cheese. Korean chicken ranks fourth in the US import market after Canada (81%), Chile (12%), and Mexico (3.6%), but the report predicts that the impact of tariffs will be limited as its proportion is only 1.8%. However, the report added that the export amount of Samgyetang has been steadily growing, and the impact of tariff changes needs to be closely examined. An official from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Globally, there will be less pork due to reduced stocks and demand. The United States, on the other hand, is strengthening its position as a leading exporter.