Despite a sluggish economy, the Caribbean region has been a strong performer for US beef and pork exports in 2009, according to USMEF. For the year to the end of October, beef exports have held pace with last year while pork exports have increased by about 25 per cent.

Caribbean representative, Elizabeth Wunderlich, says USMEF has been tailoring its marketing strategies in the region to help retailers and food-service operators cope with difficult economic conditions resulting in large part from an uncertain level of tourist activity. Ms Wunderlich says that under these circumstances, it is important for retailers to maximise the number of stock keeping units (SKUs) they can derive from beef and pork inventories and for food-service operators to have versatile cuts that can be utilised for a variety of menu items.

Ms Wunderlich added that with support from the Texas Beef Council, USMEF is providing specialized training to Caribbean sales representatives so that they are better able to market alternative cuts of US beef.