There was positive news in 2024 for red meat exports. Rusty Halvorson has the story.
There was more positive news than expected for red meat exports in 2024. Dan Halstrom, CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, says his group expected a step back going into 2024, which wasn’t entirely accurate.
“We estimated that business would probably be down, and we threw out ten percent a year ago, and the reality is that business is steady to down one percent on volume, but it’s up five percent, the second highest ever, on value. So, in that regard, we underestimated what would happen this year in a good way.”
Interest is growing in the possibility of expanding beef production once again.
“The example I give is, in past times when we’ve had droughts, and we have the down cycle, the question we always used to get was, ‘Well, when’s the price going to go down?’ What we’re getting now is not that question so much, but the question is, ‘When will we see more heifers retained? When will we see the production cycle increase?”
Demand for U.S. beef is being driven in part by countries with developing economies.
“The spending power in places like Guatemala, places like Mexico, it’s amazing to see what’s happening. I use the example that we hit a choice cut-out of close to $330 here earlier this year, and you know what? They kept buying. I think that’s the message. They’re paying for our quality. We have some of the best, highest-quality product in the world.”