Agricultural News
Beef Exports Depend on Quality Reputation
Tue, 21 May 2013 11:51:42 CDT
Compared to global competitors, U.S. beef is not cheap. Dan Halstrom of the U.S. Meat Export Federation says that presents both challenges and opportunity.
"The vast majority of our competition is grass-fed beef, not high-quality in any sense of the word as we define it. Not to say there isn't a taste for grass-fed around the world and their interpretation of what is value might be different than ours. But what we try to do is to show the distinguishing characteristics of U.S. grain-fed beef and the high quality definition of that is very, very important and really sets us apart in a lot of the parts of the world. Even though our prices may be higher, there's a definite, growing demand for that high-quality beef."
The trade organization tries to connect that known value with buyers who have the ability to purchase it.
"And we have to really have to account for the fact that we're higher priced. And not everyone can afford it so that's what USMEF does is identify those demographics, those countries that can afford it-at least a segment of the population. And we try to really expand that demographic in those particular countries," Halstrom says.
From the Middle East to the recently-reopened Japanese market, Halstrom says the future of U.S. Beef Exports looks promising and that's good news for the ranchers and feeders raising it.
"We're at about $215 for every head slaughtered is attributable to the export business. And this has seen dramatic growth in the last few years and we're going to continue to see that grow especially with the recent announcement on Japan. We figure that's another $20 a head incremental, so were up to $235-$240 a head for 2013 which we think is phenomenal."
Since export demand favors the highest-quality grades, better beef keeps building this market.
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