US beef exports smash record with two months to spare
Meat companies in the US exported almost 2 million tonnes of beef in the first ten months of 2021, an increase of 17% compared to the same months in 2020.
In terms of value, these shipments brought in more than $8.5 billion. This represents an increase of 38% year on year. More significantly, it means that the US beef sector has already surpassed its previous record for annual export earnings with two months to spare. In 2018, they achieved a full-year collective export value of $8.33 billion.
The US Meat Export Federation said on announcing the figures for January-October that the beef industry was on course to surpass $10 billion for the full year. It said three key Asian markets, Japan, China and South Korea, were likely to invest $2 billion each in US beef this year.
It pointed out that South Korea and Japan were “already knocking on the door”, having gone past $1.9 billion each in October.
