U.S. beef highlighted at Taiwan consumer festival

U.S. beef held a featured role at the 2023 Vogue Picnic in Taipei, one of Taiwan’s largest outdoor events. The festival attracted an estimated 30,000 of mostly young consumers. Sustainability, an issue of increasing importance among younger demographics in Taiwan, was a central message for the U.S. beef industry. Sustainability facts and information about U.S. production practices were shared with consumers and media at both industry booths and during presentations, cooking demonstrations, product samplings and interactive games.

Erich Kuss, chief of the Agricultural Section at the American Institute in Taiwan, and Director Emily Scott and Marketing Manager Cleo Fu of the Agricultural Trade Office supported the U.S. beef industry at the show with remarks touting the sustainability practices of American agriculture and the U.S. beef industry.

Alternative cuts of U.S. beef were also promoted. The U.S. beef knuckle and outside round flat were featured items during a cooking demonstration by popular YouTube influencers and in product samplings at the two booths.

More than 20,000 consumers visited U.S. beef activities, and more than 3,000 samples were served. A robust public relations and social media campaign was implemented prior to and during the festival, resulting in coverage by 18 media outlets and a social media engagement of 1,845,696.

Funding for activities during the festival was provided by the Beef Checkoff Program, Texas Beef Council and North Dakota Corn Utilization Council.

Campaign underway to promote chilled U.S. pork back ribs in Korea

As the South Korean government works to rein in rising prices, another duty-free tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for imported pork was recently announced. Because pork imports from the U.S., EU and Chile enter Korea duty-free under free trade agreements, pork TRQs primarily benefit Canadian, Brazilian and Mexican pork.

With competitors gaining greater access to the high-value Korean market, USMEF efforts to promote and differentiate U.S. pork quality with the Korean trade and consumers are accelerating.

“We talked with U.S. suppliers and key accounts in the trade,” said Korea Director Junil Park. “With strong supplies and competitive prices in the market, we identified the chilled back ribs as having strong potential for immediate sales increases and long-term demand growth in Korea."

USMEF kicked off an integrated marketing campaign for chilled back ribs earlier this year during meetings with the trade. Through the distribution of high-quality posters and other print and digital materials, USMEF differentiated the quality of U.S. back ribs for use on e-commerce platforms and at butcher shops, retail outlets, processor facilities and restaurants. Promoting U.S. back ribs as meatier and with greater yields, USMEF also offered samples to key accounts in the retail, e-commerce and foodservice sectors to demonstrate quality and provide an incentive for summer promotions.

In May, USMEF implemented a week-long promotion for back ribs with a high-volume supermarket chain operated by E-Mart. Additional promotions for the chilled back rib are scheduled for this summer in the retail, e-commerce and foodservice sectors.

Promotional funding is provided by the National Pork Board, South Dakota Soybean Research & Promotion Council and USDA’s Agricultural Trade Promotion program. 

Source: U.S. Meat Export Federation