Source: Susan Kelly, MEATINGPLACE, 3/8/19


U.S. beef exports in 2018 topped value and volume records set a year ago, while pork export volume came up just shy of the 2017 record and value fell 1 percent, USDA statistics compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) show.

Strong demand from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the ASEAN region fueled beef exports, which jumped 7 percent to 1.35 million metric tons from 2017. Export value soared 15 percent to $8.33 billion.

“There may have been no greater ag trade success story in 2018 than U.S. beef exports to Korea,” Dan Halstrom, USMEF CEO, said in a statement. “Less than a decade removed from street protests opposing the reopening of this market, Koreans now consume more U.S. beef per capita than any international destination.”

Korea drove half of the $1 billion surge in beef exports, aided by USDA promotional funding and sharply lower import duties under the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), USMEF said. Exports to Korea rose 30 percent year-over-year in volume to 239,676 metric tons and jumped 43 percent in value to $1.75 billion.

Exports to leading market Japan climbed 7 percent, to 330,217 metric tons, and 10 percent in value, to $2.08 billion. USMEF cautioned that the United States’ position as Japan’s largest beef supplier is tenuous due to a widening tariff rate gap between U.S. beef and its main competitors, all of which secured tariff rate relief under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Beef exports to China/Hong Kong softened in November and December to end the year down 3 percent in volume at 130,129 metric tons. China reopened to U.S. beef in June 2017 after a 13-year absence, but U.S. beef has been heavily disadvantaged by the 25 percent retaliatory duty imposed by China last year, bringing the total tariff rate on U.S. beef to 37 percent, USMEF said.
Overall beef exports accounted for 13.5 percent of total beef production in 2018 and 11.1 percent for muscle cuts, both up from 2017.

Pork
Pork exports in 2018 reached 2.44 million metric tons, 0.5 percent below the 2017 record. Pork export value fell 1 percent to $6.39 billion. Exports were 25.7 percent of total pork production, about one percentage point below 2017.

Retaliatory duties imposed in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports hurt pork exports in the second half of the year. May was the last month in which exports to leading volume market Mexico increased. Export volume to Mexico finished the year at 777,143 metric tons, 3 percent below the 2017 record, but export value took a bigger hit, declining 13 percent to $1.31 billion, the lowest since 2015.

“The decline in export value clearly shows the negative impact these retaliatory duties have imposed on the U.S. pork supply chain,” Halstrom said.

Retaliatory duties also hurt pork exports to China/Hong Kong, which fell 29 percent in volume to 351,774 metric tons and 21 percent in value to $851.7 million.

U.S. pork exports to Korea soared 40 percent in volume to 242,372 metric tons and 41 percent in value to $670.3 million. Most U.S. pork now enters Korea duty-free under KORUS.

Exports to leading value market Japan were steady with 2017 in both volume, at 394,300 metric tons, and value, at $1.62 billion. But similar to beef, U.S. pork’s position as Japan’s leading pork supplier is threatened by implementation of CPTPP and the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement.

Lamb
U.S. lamb exports rebounded from a down year in 2017, with volume at its highest since 2012, largely due to stronger variety meat demand in Mexico. Combined lamb/lamb variety meat shipments climbed 77 percent in volume to 12,866 metric tons. Export value increased 19 percent to $23.4 million, the highest since 2014.

Complete 2018 export data for U.S. beef, pork and lamb are available here.

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