HOG farmers in the United States, the world’s biggest exporter, are losing out on a big payday because of a feed ingredient that many have been giving pigs for the past 15 years.

    As hog and pork prices surge in China, the top consumer, its record imports this year will be dominated by Europe, not the United States, according to Rabobank. Like dozens of countries, China bans the use of ractopamine that is fed to more than three-quarters of American hogs to help them gain muscle faster while eating less grain.

    With shipments to China dropping and U.S. pork output exceeding beef for the first time in half a century, farmers like Randy Spronk are weaning their herds off the drug. The problem is that switching is no guarantee of overseas buyers. Co-mingling of meat makes segregating ractopamine-free pork difficult, and only a handful of processing plants can sell to China, including some run by Smithfield Foods Inc. There’s also more competition from Europe, which has a surplus of cheaper supply.

    “We need to access that market,” said Spronk, who raises 150,000 hogs a year with his family in Edgerton, Minnesota. “This is an opportunity I don’t want to miss.”

    So far, importers are going elsewhere. U.S. pork exports to China were down 41 percent through the first six months of the year to 90,896.1 tons, the lowest since 2010, government data showed.

    Shipments are headed for a fourth straight annual decline, after plunging 34 percent in 2014. Total sales this year to all foreign buyers are down 5.3 percent at 1.086 million tons.

    While wholesale-pork prices are up 8.2 percent this year to 90.17 cents a pound Aug. 7, they are the lowest for that date since 2009 and down 34 percent from an all-time high in July 2014.(SD-Agencies)