By Fotokostic/Shutterstock 
Fresh meat at the local market. China consumes around 28% of the world’s meat, half of it is pork.
Credit: Maciej Bledowski / Shutterstock.com
There is a new study out which shows how corn and soybean producers are benefiting from U.S. red meat exports. Both U.S. beef and pork exports brought critical returns to the corn and soybean industries in 2020. The independent study, conducted by World Perspectives, Inc., was released by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). And it shows U.S. beef and pork exports added 41 cents per bushel to the value of corn and $1.06 per bushel to soybeans in 2020.
Corn and soybean producers support the international promotion of U.S. pork, beef and lamb by investing a portion of their checkoff dollars in market development efforts conducted by USMEF. This funding is leveraged with support from pork and beef checkoff programs and USDA.
Key findings from the study include:
- U.S. pork exports used 2.45 million tons of soybean meal, which is the equivalent of 103.2 million bushels of soybeans. At an average annual price of $8.98/bushel, pork exports accounted for $927 million in market value to the soybean industry.
- Beef and pork exports used 530.5 million bushels of corn. At an average annual price of $3.52/bushel, beef and pork exports accounted for $1.87 billion in market value to the corn industry.
- Beef and pork exports also used 3.03 million tons of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) at an annual average price of $154.59/ton, generating $468 million in market value for ethanol mills’ co-products.
More information about these numbers can be found on the USMEF website.