02/06/08 Beef exports

Overall beef exports for the United States look very positive at the end of 2007. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back with the good news. According to Gregg Doud, National Cattleman's Beef Association Chief Economist beef exports have increased with nearly every U.S. trading partner. Mexico remains our top market for beef and beef variety meats and should top last year's record of $1.2 billion in sales. Canada will record the second highest amount of U.S. exports for the year at $600 million. The ASEAN nations of Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia import relatively small amounts of American beef, but the percentage increases over 2006 are fun to think about. Vietnam imports are up 276 percent while total ASEAN imports are up 210 percent. One other large percentage increase shows beef exports to the European Union up 144 percent. We now export more beef variety meats to Egypt than any other country except Mexico. These shipments are mainly beef livers totaling approximately 72,000 metric tons. Beef shipments to Japan remain well below pre-2003 exports but did increase by eight times. While some of these figures may be boring to many people, I think they need to be reviewed because I also think anytime we as a nation can export products rather than import it's a good thing. I'm Jeff Keane. NCBA 1/10 abc.net.au 1/10