In the United States, exports of red meat, which date to January 2020, turned out to be positive. According to data, made public by USDA and provided by the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF), sales increased by 2.5% on annual basis. In terms of value, exported meat reached 672.7 million dollars, therefore rising by 5% compared to January 2019. As regards volumes, they amounted to 107,374 tons of red meat. Looking at China, as an end market, in January the United States exported towards Beijing 876 tons of meat (+7%). In terms of value, revenues reached 6.5 million dollars (+4%).
Farmers are in difficulties
Yet, they might actually face consequences in the following weeks. As reported by Bloomberg, last week on Tuesday the US government estimated a downturn in the exports of meat, owing, most of all, to a slowdown of activities in the restaurants in China, South Korea and Japan: these countries are some of the most important importers of meat coming from the United States of America. “US manufacturers have been boosting, for a few years, their production of red meat and poultry while expecting a record-breaking demand from overseas countries, especially from Asia. For the records, their export expectations went further up when the swine fever, which broke out in the African continent, affected hundreds of million pigs in the area. Yet, trade wars first, and current Coronavirus outbreak have delayed whichever advantage to American farmers, who must instead deal with another situation: meat provisions are getting stockpiled”, reported Bloomberg.
Imports go on meanwhile
In the meantime, the United States could import some quantities of beef meat from the United Kingdom. In fact, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (which gather British farms and cattle breeders) have just concluded some negotiations to export bovine meat from the United Kingdom towards the United States. Trade exports will not supposedly exceed, in terms of value, 66 million British pounds in the first 5 years.
Picture taken from Tyson Foods
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