USMEF: Beef Exports Strong To Asia, Mexico In September

The latest U.S. red meat trade statistics are out, and September was a good month of U.S. beef exports.

"Almost 104,000 tons, up 5% - a pretty good month relative to some of the previous months of the year" said U.S. Meat Export Federation President and CEO Dan Halstrom. "You look at Japan and Mexico, both had very good months, up 10% and 20% respectively.  And Taiwan, a very important chilled beef program market, up about 35% at 4,700 tons. And I think one of the themes that stands out on the beef side is that we are really starting to see the food service sector rebound throughout most of Asia."

And that rebound, Halstrom noted, is being driven by tourism.  He said tourism is booming in both Japan and Korea, and U.S beef producers are seeing the benefits.  He added Asia was not the only region where exports were very strong in September.  Halstrom noted Mexico imported almost 20,000 tons of beef, up 20% from August.

“This is really encouraging, because with the higher cutout values, the Mexicans are really turning into value buyers," he noted.  "They understand our quality. Price is not the first thing that comes to mind for them, quality is.  And if you also look at Central America, same as the pork side, Central America on beef, continues to perform well, up 15% in the month of September.” 

In total, beef export value climbed 6% in September to $843.8 million.  Halstrom added September was a good month for pork as well, which is on pace to set a new export record this year.

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