Dean Meyer, a corn, soybean and livestock producer from Rock Rapids, Iowa, who serves on the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) executive committee and as a director of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, recently returned from a trade mission to Singapore and Malaysia, where he joined a diverse delegation of agricultural leaders to promote Iowa products, including beef and pork.

USMEF’s ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) operations are headquartered in Singapore, and the delegation had an opportunity to meet with the USMEF ASEAN staff as well as importers and other food industry representatives from Singapore and Malaysia.

Meyer said he observed strong opportunities for U.S. meat in Singapore in both the high-end foodservice and processing sectors. He noted that despite strict halal certification requirements, U.S. beef has begun to gain traction in Malaysia and added that there are also opportunities for U.S. pork among Malaysia’s non-Muslim population.