Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is talking with the president and CEO of the United States Meat Export Federation, Dan Halstrom, about meat exports around the globe.
Starting with South Korea, Halstrom said it continues to be a significant market as it had one of the largest inventories entering the year.
“The early year numbers probably don’t look so good, but we are starting to see momentum come back there,” Halstrom said. “The food service actually is probably a notch ahead of Japan and way ahead of China.”
As South Korea is well positioned, Halstrom said he expects to see a significant rebound.
In Japan, Halstrom said there is potential in the food service sector.
“The U.S. dollar has been pretty strong in a lot of these Asian countries, especially Japan,” Halstrom said. “We reached upwards of 145 yen to the dollar a few months ago; we are back down a little over 140 now, but that compares to 120 just a year ago.”
Japan and South Korea rely heavily on U.S. imports, Halstrom said and will continue to be solid markets. The past few years of China importing U.S. beef, Halstrom said, have been a huge success.
“There is no high-quality beef comparable to ours that is in the market, besides maybe some Wagyu that is much higher priced,” Halstrom said.
There is room for expansion in China, Halstrom said, as U.S. beef has made an impact quality-wise and reputation-wise.
“The other thing that is noteworthy of China is if you look at Asia, China has the largest product mix of any country, so they are taking more of the animal, which is another selling point,” Halstrom said.
Mexico is showing growth this year, Halstrom said, especially on the pork side, which is setting records.
“You can’t ignore Mexico and Canada,” Halstrom said. “They are very solid trading partners, and we are seeing the benefit on the beef side this year in both Canada and Mexico.”
Globally, Halstrom said the overarching selling point of U.S. beef is the safety aspect.
“Combining safety with our eating experience, obviously, we have a very unique and high-quality taste; these are all attributes that need to be focused on,” Halstrom said.
Aside from producing a high-quality product, Halstrom said the U.S. has also mastered producing that product more sustainably with fewer resources.
“Telling that story has really been one of our focuses,” Halstrom said.
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