US beef exports and imports are both increasing this year. Livestock Market Information Center Director Jim Robb says exports are growing with a strong demand component, while domestic beef demand also remains rather good.
"Beef export tonnage was up fully four percent from last year," Robb said. "The other meat items didn't fair quite as well, pork exports were essentially unchanged from the prior year ago and chicken exports were up a rather modest two percent year over year."
Robb spoke with Eric Atkinson of Agriculture Today with Kansas State University Research and Extension News on the US beef exports and import situation. You can click on the listen bar below to hear his comments.
The US is also importing more beef this year. US beef imports for the month of May were 20 percent above a year. Part of that can be attributed to very tight overall cattle and beef supplies. Robb says record prices for cow cutout value and the low slaughter levels is also pulling more beef into the US especially from Australia, New Zealand and other countries.
"We are really the highest price meat market in the world in the United States and we're going to attract some of this meat to fill the void that is being caused by low cow slaughter in the US and again rather strong demand for hamburger and other relatively less expensive beef items," Robb said.
Looking ahead cattle producers can look forward to input costs declining in 2014 with the latest US Department of Agriculture report. Robb says the latest World Supply and Demand Estimates Report shows growing supplies and the latest report didn't change the picture of a large US corn crop.
"It certainly didn't shake off the ideas that we have a very much a growing corn crop in the US, one that has acreage levels that didn't get reduced very much and set the tone for some real erosion in corn costs that livestock producers will face," Robb said.
The lower corn costs are starting to trickle down to local country elevators.
"If we look across the midwest markets the elevator bids up until this week, there were a spotty number of markets that were below $4 a bushel," he said. "This week almost every market is below $4 a bushel."
Click here to see more...