Agricultural News
Beef Exports Continue to Blaze But will Australia's Duty-Advantage Over the US Snuff Out the Flame?
Mon, 17 Jul 2017 11:13:06 CDT
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays had the chance to speak with President and CEO of the US Meat Export Federation, Phil Seng, recently, who says so far, this year US beef exports have been on fire.
"The first five months of this year, we performed very well in our traditional markets: Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico and Canada," he said. "We're up about 12 percent as far as our volume and about 16 percent as far as our value, internationally."
Recently, the value of these markets constitutes about $270 a head for fed steers, a fairly significant export dividend for beef producers. Part of this sustained strength in Asian markets is due to the fact that to some degree, their production bases are declining, while their economies continue to thrive. As a result, consumers in these markets have begun demanding higher valued products from the US.
"All the projections are pointing North; they're going up. We're very excited about the prospects," Seng reported, but confessed his fear of rising competition in Japan's market with Australia, which as a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership stands to benefit from lowered tariff rates. "(Japan) has traditionally been our most reliable, dependable market and we just can't allow the competitor to have that kind of a duty-advantage."
Listen to Hays speak with Seng about the outstanding performance of US beef exports this year, and why it is important to begin addressing the potential threat of increased competition in our traditional international market base, on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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