international_meat.pdf

1 Meat export is very significant to the value of our industry. Meat is the center of plate in the US and in most developed countries. 2 There has been a significant increase in meat consumption worldwide over the past 15 years. Pork has been the leading protein with this increase with poultry being second 3 China is certainly the world’s largest pork consumer. When you take China out of the mix, it becomes apparent that meat consumption increase is primarily of poultry 4 The countries which are consuming more chicken are consuming less beef 5 The US is a major importer of beef, primarily of trimmings to make ground beef, sausage and other processed products. We can see some up tick of China as well, but keep in mind they were hardling importing any beef 6 Brazil’s and Australia’s beef market is very dependent upon export markets. Most of their export is that of grass-fed trimmings to make ground beef, sausage and other processed products. You will notice a dramatic decrease in US exports 10 years ago, largely driven by the incidence of a cow testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy within the US 7 This might looks like a scatter plot, but if you take Brazil and Argentina out, both of which are the world’s heaviest beef eaters, you can see as disposable income goes up, so does protein consumption, especially beef consumption 8 Beef from the chuck and plate largely is exported to northern Asia, but much of the round is exported to Canada, Mexico, and Russia 9 Quite simply, there are lots of organ meats or “variety meats”, which are not extensively consumed in the US. Tongues, liver, heart, kidney, stomach and intestine are shipped all around the world 10 The US hog market is even more dependent upon export. The loin, belly, and Boston butts are exported to northern Asia, where as the leaner, lower valued hams and picnics are shipped to Mexico, Russia, Canada, and S. America 11 For pork variety meats, liver, heart, a