Changing Structure of Pork Trade, Production, and Processing in Mexico, The

The structure of the pork production, slaughter, and processing sectors in Mexico has changed significantly since implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and with rising income and increased urbanization. Today, Mexico's pork industry has become more integrated and achieved greater production efficiencies in response to increasing demand for better product quality and stricter sanitary practices in production and processing pork for both the domestic market and for export. However, despite these improvements Mexico's pork industry has not kept up with the rising domestic demand, and Mexico has become an increasingly important market for the United States. A key to the development of increased trade in both live animals and pork is growth of federally inspected or "Tipo Inspección Federal" (TIF) plant production, as well as development of marketing channels and product promotion that support high-quality consumer meat products.