Figure 1--Mexican Pork Consumption, 1994-2002
In addition, an important change has occurred in the composition of pork
imports. In 1994, meat constituted only 26 percent of Mexican pork
imports, while byproducts (lard, skin, and viscera) accounted for 74 percent
(fig. 2). By 2002, the share associated with meat had grown to 52 percent.
Meat’s rising share of imports is a consequence of the decline in national
production capacity suffered during the economic crisis of late 1994 and
1995. Although the flashpoint of this crisis was the sudden devaluation of
the Mexican peso in December 1994, the deepest pain was felt in 1995,
when the economy contracted by 6.2 percent in real terms (INEGI). On-
hoof imports (live hogs) are relatively small in volume, but this trade acts as
a price modulator in the Mexican market.