Issues With China Continue To Impact Beef Exports

It should come as no surprise; beef exports continue to struggle.  February beef exports totaled 85,066 tons, down 13% year-over-year, while value fell 10% to $722.7 million.

U.S. Meat Export Federation President and CEO, Dan Halstrom says the drop is thanks to the industry being blocked out of China.  However, the news wasn’t all bad when looking at February’s figures.

“Take China out, we're really only down about 1% on the value side, $723 million, down 10%. But once again, take out China and we're actually up 4% on the value," Halstrom said.  "But there's definitely some bright spots. Looking at Latin America, Mexico on the beef side. The continued theme that's probably the most exciting is the momentum on the beef variety meats. This is several months in a row with very big performance, 12% growth on variety meats and 40% growth on the value side.” 

Halstrom noted the contribution per head for exports in February was $423 a head, the highest level in 11 months.

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