USMEF’s participation in the event, which attracted exporters and distributors from 65 countries, along with hundreds of Chinese importers, was funded by the USDA Market Access Programme (MAP) and the Pork Checkoff.

USMEF’s display featured five member companies and attracted more than 3,000 visitors seeking information about US pork. Buyers also inquired about US beef, which received greater attention compared to previous shows despite lacking access to China.

“The Shanghai Food Show is the exhibition of choice for exporters trying to get into the China market or expand in the China market, and there are more international companies and country pavilions than any food exhibition in China,” said Ming Liang, USMEF marketing director in Shanghai.

For US pork, Mr Liang said the goal was to win over more Chinese customers by showing them a variety of ways to cook various pork cuts and the many menu options each cut can offer. More than 20 US pork items were on display at the show, including spare ribs, belly and hock.

Tastings at the USMEF booth featured fried US pork brisket bones, braised boneless butt in soup stock, pan-fried bone-in butt and Shanghai-style deep-fried bone-in loin.

To show current and potential customers new ways to cook pork and give them new menu ideas, a master chef based in Shanghai prepared four US pork dishes at the show. The dishes created and offered for tastings were:

• Fried bone-in US pork loin with tea-flavored pear
• Slow-cooked wine kumquat with US pork boneless butt and Chinese pastry
• US pork brisket with stewed pumpkin
• Sauce-grilled US pork bone-in butt

“In addition to the contacts made on US pork, we received a lot of interest from meat traders and distributors about US beef,” said Mr Liang. “We could see that more visitors this time were focused on beef. Many guests came to ask about beef packers and exporters and about the status of US beef getting back in China.”

US pork exports to the China/Hong Kong region were 544,943 metric tons last year, a 59 per cent increase over 2015. The value of those exports was $1.07 billion, a 52 per-cent increase. Still, there is room for growth, Mr Liang pointed out.

“There is a lot of competition for larger shares of the Chinese pork market and the US goal is to defend the current share and work toward gaining a bigger share,” he said.