Farm Director KC Sheperd recently had the chance to visit with the CEO of the United States Meat Export Federation, Dan Halstrom, about beef exports in 2023 and an outlook for 2024.
“We ended out the year with a real boost in December both on beef and pork,” Halstrom said.
Although export numbers were down year over year on the beef side, Halstrom said December was the largest month since August at 108,000 tons.
“We had the usual momentum around Latin America that we have had for several months now,” Halstrom said. “Mexico was up big, Central America was up big, so Latin America continues to really hang in there and do quite well on the beef side.”
Halstrom said there were a few markets in Asia that rebounded. He added that Korea was up 15 percent, China was up 20 percent on value and up 16 percent on volume.
“It was quite encouraging on the beef side to see some activity or some renewed energy,” Halstrom said.
Although Covid has ended, Halstrom said many Asian countries are still seeing the impacts.
“In China and Japan in particular, I don’t think the consumer is by any means back to normal at food service,” Halstrom said. “Tourism, while rebounding, is not back to normal yet. We could see some tailwinds, I think, on demand. We hope that we see some tailwinds here in 2024 when we get a little bit extra boost from the food service segment.”
Halstrom said that 2023 ended with a high value per head, which means the consumer is still recognizing the value of U.S. beef in key markets.
“We were at 431 dollars per head in the month of December, and that brought last year’s average up to just under 400 dollars per head,” Halstrom said. “We all know that we are going to be a little shorter supply for the next couple of years, so I think this is a good sign.”
Regarding opportunities for 2024, Halstrom said he is seeing trends in the demand for convenience. Halstrom said this trend helps to add more value into the equation and take it away from commodity aspect of some products.
“Korea is of course the leader in this area with home meal replacement, restaurant meal replacement with online activities that are intermingled or combined with those concepts,” Halstrom said. “I think we are seeing more of that pick up in other markets. We are seeing it in China, we are seeing it in Mexico for that matter. We are seeing it in Japan.”
With expectations going forward for a lower supply while U.S. ranchers rebuild the cowherd, Halstrom said the number one question international markets are asking is when there will be more availability.
“To me, that is a very good sign because they understand or are better at understanding the quality definition of U.S. beef and the value involved,” Halstrom said.
