Source: MEATINGPLACE, 8/30/16

U.S. beef exports are expected to rise in 2017 as expanding production and declining wholesale prices, along with a pickup in global economic growth, drive greater demand, USDA said.

U.S. beef production is recovering after plummeting last year to the lowest level since 1993, slowing exports, USDA said. The strong dollar also dampened foreign demand for U.S. beef.

U.S. beef exports are forecast to rise to $5.3 billion in fiscal 2017, up from $5.2 billion in 2016. This is well above the value of 2003 exports and -- at a projected 800 million tons -- marginally below on volume.

U.S. beef shipments dropped after the discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in December 2003. Exports had regained pre-BSE volumes by 2011 and reached record values by 2014.

In May 2013, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) upgraded the United States to negligible risk status for BSE. USDA has worked to eliminate BSE-related restrictions in 16 countries and gained additional market access for U.S. beef in Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Guatemala, Iraq, Lebanon, Macau, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Saint Lucia, Singapore, South Africa, Ukraine, Vietnam and Brazil.

The agency said it continues to work to remove all remaining BSE-related restrictions on beef to overseas markets such as China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Australia.

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