US red meat exports increase but Asian barriers remain
According to the latest statistics released by the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF), exports of US red meat continued to increase in value through August with beef exports rising an impressive 28% year-on-year to reach $1.67 billion. In terms of volume, beef and beef variety meat exports worldwide also improved, rising 16% to 495,829 metric tons (mt).
Significant gains were noted in Central and South America where export volume increased 68% to 5,986 mt and value increased 64% to $10.9 million, whilst larger markets such as Canada also improved, rising 31% in volume to 81,380 mt and 34% in value to $372.1 million. Mexico remained the most important market importing 235,471 mt valued at $781.5 million.
However, in spite of a positive trend in many regions around the world, Asia remains a stumbling block for the industry with news today that Japan has suspended imports from US producer Cargill over documentation failing to properly identify tendons in a shipment, whilst US negotiators are holding trade talks in Korea this week with the ban on US beef continuing to be a bone of contention.
