Meat Exports and Tariffs
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Like the other segments of U.S. agriculture, red meat exports would take a significant hit from a tariff war.
The U.S. Meat Export Federation is seriously worried about tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China.
USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom says the three markets account for a little over 40 percent of U.S. red meat exports …
HALSTROM … “We’re coming in at $19.1 billion in total beef and pork exports and if you add up Mexico, China and Canada, it’s about $8.4 billion of that. So, obviously, very concerning at a very high level. But we’ll have to just see how this all plays out because there’s a lot of moving parts and it remains to be seen exactly what the potential impact is short-term. Of course, long-term we’re very hopeful that we can work through this and get through it with minimal impact on our exports.”
And in all of the markets, Halstrom says they utilize the whole carcass …
HALSTROM … “You know, you look at China and Mexico in particular, there’s a big focus on variety meats, both beef and pork variety meats, and a big focus as well on cuts that maybe aren’t the most utilized cuts. You know, round meat is huge into Mexico. Of course, half of our hams are exported and mainly go into Mexico. So, yeah, there’s a lot of reasons why there’s concern here.”
And, Halstrom says if they face retaliatory tariffs, key competitors like Brazil will have zero tariffs.
According to the latest USMEF Export Report, U.S. beef exports were more than $415 per fed steer or heifer, and pork exports totaled more than $66 per head.
