5-25 IAN Rosy Picture for Beef

 How important is beef to the food supply in the world. Well cattlemen may want to listen up for good news. I’m David Sparks and I’ll be right back with that report. If you’ve been listening over the last few months you’d know that the situation in the beef industry has been up and down to say the least. With a poor economy, Idaho restaurants and beef retailers were selling a lot more hamburger and fewer cuts of choice beef. Rick Stott of Agri Beef reported that they had seen a decline in choice beef sales and Executive Director of the Idaho Beef Council Traci O’Donnell concurred. And even though sales have slumped, the cattlemen of Idaho have stepped up to the plate with donations of this important source of protein in an effort to feed the hungry and the poor.

But the long term picture on beef is very positive. Gregg Doud - Chief Economist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has some encouraging beef trade fact to chew on: The United States is the world’s largest beef producer with its annual processing of 34 million head of cattle we produce about 12 million tons of beef. Brazil is second with 9 million tons, followed by Europe at 8 million and China at 6 million tons. These numbers are important to put into context when we consider that in just the next 8 years, beef consumption around  the world will increase by about 8 and ½ million tons or about ¾ of the entire U.S. beef herd. Beef exports over the next 8 years are expected to grow by 2.8 million tons equivalent to 20% of U.S. beef production today.