Ethnic Niche Markets for Fresh Canadian Pork in the United States Pacific Northwest

Abstract

Summary The ethnic Asian market in Washington and Oregon constitutes a sizable niche market for fresh Canadian pork. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the Asian ethnic markets for fresh pork in the United States Pacific Northwest and Vancouver. Asian retailers and distributors in Vancouver, Seattle and Portland were surveyed by direct interview during November and December 1996. The survey applied semantic differential scaling questions, open-ended questions and a stated preference task, a conjoint methodology, to examine pork retailer's and distributor's perceptions of fresh pork produced in Western Canada and in the Midwest United States. The survey results show Western Canadian pork enjoys an image of superior quality amongst retailers and distributors in Seattle's ethnic Asian market. Asian retailers in Portland are less familiar with Western Canadian pork and did not regard it as highly as did retailers in Seattle. Distributors in Portland are more familiar with Western Canadian pork and consider it to be superior to Midwest United States pork in terms of overall quality, meat color and fat trim. In both markets, Western Canadian pork is generally considered to be expensive. These results are not statistically significant; however, they are of economic relevance since most of the major players in the segment were interviewed.