China is the biggest buyer of US pork

US Meat Export Federation(USMEF) recent data for the year shows an unprecedented surge in China pork imports from America, double that of Japan's record year of 2005.

The 4.2 billion pounds of pork imports is less than 5% of China's total consumption, said USMEF vice president Joel Haggard, who added that US exports are a small compared Europe's and Brazil's.

USMEF estimates that the final figure for US pork exports to China and Hong Kong is likely to reach 851 million pounds at a value of nearly US$700 million. But the surge is not likely to repeat itself this year, because of China's hog raising subsidies.