US meat exports
 

I heard over the weekend some interesting things about the amount of meat that the US actually exports to other countries. I didn't know this, but I heard a stat that about 40% of the meat protein that is raised and produced here in the US is actually EXPORTED out of the country. I'd never heard this before.


I just found this site, which has statistics for various meats and how much we export to various other nations. Pretty interesting stuff.

For instance, in 2011, we exported 1,287,259 metric tons, or $5.42 Billion worth of beef alone. :shock:


Not sure why I'd never considered that we were a global producer, but I thought some of y'all might be interested.


Here's the website I dug up on the stats:
http://www.usmef.org/news-statistics/statistics/

That's interesting stuff. I've also heard that the US doesn't import any beef. So for example, there's no real "Kobe" beef. Just Waygu or 'Kobe Style'.

Than why does the stuff at my Piggly Wiggly say "Product of Mexico" Or are they a State now........

Beef is essentially a global commodity.

It is cheaper to have it processed in in old Mexico and bring it back than it is to pay wages and benefits in the US. Look on the bright side every job created in Old Mex slows the traffic on the border. Not saying I agree with the business practice of exporting jobs but I understand it from a business stand point.

Well, I also heard something else interesting this weekend. I was actually at a specialty butcher on Saturday (our comp team is working out a sponsorship with them) and the butcher there was telling me that recently they had a whole actual WAYGU rib roast shipped in for a very wealthy client. It was about 9 steaks total, after they cut it. The cost of the rib roast was $3,400.

:twitch:

So, while the "US" may not, these guys did. He showed me a photo of the steaks. They looked WEIRD they had so much marbled fat. Didn't even LOOK like ribeyes, other than the shape.

And their client wants more in a month. Must be nice.



But, yes.....I've also heard this about American Waygu & Kobe. There's been articles posted here about that very thing. The owner of the butcher shop was telling me that even those US cattle farms that claim that they have waygu meat, apparently have BARELY waygu meat. They've basically cross bread the lineage of actual waygu beef into other breeds (like, say Angus) and there's something like 51% waygu and 49% Angus, so since they're technically majority waygu, they can package it that way, but you're not getting true waygu. Not ALL American Waygu are like that, but some producers are and it's diluting the market apparenlty.

Yep, heard the exact same thing. Even so, the waygu I've cooked is always great. Expensive, but tender and tasty.

We import lot of frozen meat from Argentina which goes into hamburger and lot of the can corn beef comes fron there But exporting is good for our beef producer. BTW in the next few years Korea will be buying more beef from us.

Well, I just read an article about the USA's importing and exporting of beef. So it appears we I import. But the article specifically talked about importing cheap beef mainly becoming ground and lunch meat etc. exporting higher valued beef. So maybe there is something specific about beef and Japan???

Japan love US beef it lot cheaper but they have lot of restriction on our beef imports because if it was an open market, we would put their producer out of business in a short time because we can produce it so much cheaper

When the owner of the butcher shop told me about the amount of meat we export, she also told me that if it weren't for that, our meat would be so much cheaper for us as consumers, which sort of makes sense.

True. I learned that talking to somebody in the industry, when I asked about the price of skirt steak going up. I'd been told that it was increased demand when fajitas became more popular. I was told that domestic demand contributed, but that a much larger factor was the amount being exported to Japan etc.

Economics is fun! High prices are good for cattle producers looking to sell their beef at the highest rate possible. If global demand is high, then an exporting we will go! Of course we consumers want to buy it as cheaply as possible. So we'll buy that where its cheapest.

Do you really think the commodity traders on Wall Street give a chit what we pay for a steak?

I'd hope not.