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First Russia, then China, now Japan could impact U.S. meat exports
Story Date: 3/8/2013
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Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 3/8/13
Export markets are increasingly important to the U.S. pork and beef industries as the population and per capita meat consumption decline in the United States.
A strong export market can make all the difference as U.S. animal protein producers weight the cost of expensive feed grains against the hope of a return on investment.
Beef and pork industry groups worry about new Russian and Chinese barriers to U.S. beef and pork imports related to the use of the feed additive ractopamine.
Now U.S. meat exporters have cause for concern from one of its best meat buyers: Japan. A sinking Japanese yen is eroding the historic advantage of a weaker dollar that has driven increased U.S. meat exports in recent years.
According to the Daily Livestock Report, the value of the yen against the dollar has lost almost 18 percent over the past three months.
This could be a problem, given that Japan purchased about one third of the U.S. pork exported in 2012 and about 19 percent of the exported U.S. beef and veal worth a combined total of about $3 billion.
The DLR, published by Steve Meyer and Len Steiner Inc., warned, “The change in the value of the yen is not an accident that will be quickly rectified. It reflects a dramatic change in the stance of the Japanese Central Bank and the Japanese government.”
The impact will only become apparent as trade data in the coming weeks reflects actual buying patterns since the yen declined. For example, U.S. pork exports to Japan in January were down 8 percent from a year ago.
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