Now that the final meat export numbers are in for 2021, we are beginning to see how the Phase One trade agreement with China is helping to shape the current beef export market. Historically, Japan and South Korea have been the largest importers of U.S. beef. With the Chinese market cracked open, it has quickly become another key market for U.S. beef exports.
U.S. beef exports exceed previous volume and value records, setting a new value record of $10.6 billion. Dan Halstrom, president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, looked back on U.S. beef’s jackpot year with Ron Hays, the senior reporter for the Oklahoma Farm Report. Halstrom said looking at the dollar signs U.S. beef raked in last year is exciting, but the real story on beef is the broad-based growth across many regions of the world.
“China, Japan, Korea, Central America, South American and Indonesia - it is really encouraging to see that broad-based growth,” Halstrom said.
With China boasting such a large population, at about 1.4 billion people, economists already foresee it becoming our nation’s largest market in the next couple of years. In 2021, the Chinese market brought in about $2 billion, the same as Japan and Korea.
“The Phase One trade agreement was implemented in March 2020,” Halstrom said. “The access is there; the supply chain is there and the China-eligible cattle increased dramatically. We are starting to see it pay off.”
Halstrom said the trade agreement with China legitimized the market. The processes so far have been more transparent, he added.
“It is easier to get processing plants approved and increase the number of cattle that qualify for China,” Halstrom said. “Once the meat gets into China, it is quite the unique product - we do not have a direct competitor, other than some Wygu product.”
U.S. beef shined in one more category last year: variety meats. Variety meats account for a little more than $1 billion of the total U.S. beef value last year, according to Halstrom.
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