Besides China for U.S. Beef
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Trade negotiations with China are never easy, but with the recent on-again, off-again talks, they’re a bit more unpredictable.
For U.S. beef, Dan Halstrom, President and CEO at the U.S. Meat Export Federation, says without China, things are down but other markets are stepping up …
HALSTROM … “Down just sightly if you take China out of the mix. Korea, our largest market, 8-9% growth over a year ago and it was almost a record last year. So, we’re very happy with where Korea is at.”
But in other markets, Halstrom says we’ve seen some surges …
HALSTROM … “But the other part that’s really performing is Latin America on beef. You know, Mexico, Central America, setting records in Central America. And keep in mind, that’s with record-high prices this last summer.”
And those markets have different wants and needs …
HALSTROM … “On China, yeah, yeah, we’re seeing the product mix diversify amongst Japan, Korea, Taiwan picking up the sack. It’s probably less of an issue with the lower supply, right, versus if it had been the peak supply.”
But getting China back, Halstrom says would be nice …
HALSTROM … “The big opportunity value-wise is to get China back in, because what happens then? It’s a halo effect on pricing. Pricing will go up in all these markets which will help our cutout. So yeah, we’re getting by without China, but it would be better to have them.”
That’s Dan Halstrom, president and CEO at the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
