PHOENIX, Arizona – The American cattle industry would shrink by eight percent if it couldn’t export beef, but ranchers were told at their annual convention last month they don’t have anything to worry about.
“We’re predicting very bullish growth,” said Phil Seng, of the United States Meat Export Federation, during the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association meeting.
Eighty-five percent of U.S.-produced variety meats are already sold offshore, and now exporters are looking for places to sell the more expensive middle meats.
Final estimates suggest 1999 exports will be worth $2.9 billion (U.S.)
Read Also
Cattle smuggling worsens outbreak in Mexico
Cattle being smuggled across Mexio’s southern border are making a screworm outbreak much more difficult to control.
This is a substantial improvement over the mid-1990s, when food safety challenges and a currency crisis nearly shut U.S. producers out of the Asian market.
The best customer is Japan, which gets 46 percent of its imported beef from the U.S.
The next best customers are Mexico, Canada, South Korea and Russia.
The U.S. continues to push for greater access to the tariff-guarded Asian markets.
The Japanese tariff remains at 38.5 percent and South Korea at 40 percent. However, NCBA economist Chuck Lambert said work is ongoing to bring these tariffs down to 12 percent.
New markets are also emerging.
“U.S. exports to the high-income countries such as Israel, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates show strong growth over the last five years,” Lambert said.
– DUCKWORTH
