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Audio: International Markets Committee Chairman Says Upcoming Meeting in Nashville Holds Great Interest for Cattle Producers


Thousands of cattle producers from across the nation are gathering in Nashville this week for the 2012 Cattle Industry Annual Convention. One of them is Kevin Kester, a fifth-generation rancher from Parkfield, Calif. Kester chairs the cattle industry’s Joint International Markets Committee, which oversees foreign marketing efforts for U.S. beef. The committee will meet Friday afternoon to review 2011 export results and discuss the outlook for 2012, and Kester encourages any cattlemen interested in global marketing to attend. He says U.S. cattle producers are becoming more and more aware of the premiums delivered by the international marketplace, which have become a key component in the profitability of their operations.

The Joint International Markets Committee meeting will be Friday, Feb. 2, at 12:30 p.m. local time. A complete convention schedule is available online.

TRANSCRIPT:

Joe Schuele: This is Joe Schuele with the U.S. Meat Export Federation report. Thousands of cattle producers are gathering in Nashville this week for the 2012 Cattle Industry Annual Convention. One of them is Kevin Kester, a fifth-generation rancher from Parkfield, Calif., who chairs the cattle industry’s Joint International Markets Committee.

Kevin Kester: Our outlook for international markets and our exports of U.S. beef across the globe are really exciting at this time. We’re looking at 14 or 15 percent of the beef raised in the United States being shipped overseas, and our export markets especially in the Pacific Rim in places like Korea and Japan have just grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years. The outlook for the future is very, very good.

I do believe our producers across the nation are realizing the importance of our export markets and how they increase the value per carcass. For 2011, the value per steer and heifer produced in the United States – that export value exceeds $200 per carcass this past year. That’s HUGE and it really helps our markets all the way down to the producers at the ranch. That extra market share is a big, big deal to us.

Joe Schuele: Kester says the International Markets Committee will meet Friday afternoon to review 2011 export results and discuss the outlook for 2012.

Kevin Kester: Friday at the International Markets Committee meeting I would invite any NCBA member, or any rancher period, to come and listen to our updates and our reports of what’s been happening in the international markets. The expected outlook for 2012 – there’s going to be some exciting news, and the folks at the U.S. Meat Export Federation do an outstanding job of giving us information and tracking the trends across the globe for our exports, and that committee meeting is going to be a vital place to come and get that information.

Source: USMEF


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