USDA data showed that 2023 US beef exports trail last year’s record pace by about 12% in volume at 881,343 tonnes and about 19% in value at $6.69 billion.
US Meat Export Federation President Dan Halstrom said in a release following the latest release of monthly export data that US beef exports faced “significant headwinds, especially in our large Asian markets where foodservice has been slow to recover and consumer confidence is low due to the impact of rising prices and the strong US dollar.”
However, beef exports to South Korea and Japan bounded back to some degree after a difficult July, Halstrom said. Mexico remains a major buyer of US beef, and exports to other Western Hemisphere countries rose in August.
ROBUST LATIN AMERICA DEMAND
Beef shipments to Mexico continued to trend higher in August, rising about 16% from last year to 18,674 tonnes with a value of $110.9 million, up 35% and the highest since December 2020, the USMEF said. Through August, beef exports to Mexico were about 17% more than last year at 136,508 tonnes, valued at about $773.5 million, up about 25%.
But outside of Mexico, August beef exports to Guatemala were the second largest total on record at 1,038 tonnes including nearly 1,000 tonnes of muscle cuts, the USMEF said. Export value reached $12.1 million, up about 33%. Through August, exports to Guatemala were down 4% in volume at 113.261 tonnes and about 6% in value at $91.5 million.
Beef exports to Honduras and Nicaragua rose sharply, but were small when compared with other countries.
OTHER RESULTS
Although August beef exports to Taiwan were down about 7% from a year ago to 5,611 tonnes, export value was about steady at $65.4 million, the USMEF said. After a slow start to 2023, exports to Taiwan rose in the summer to pull within 7% of last year’s record volume at 44,701 tonnes with year-to-date value down 21% to $445.2 million.
August beef exports to Japan were well below last year but showed increases from July, the USMEF said. Exports reached 21,106 tonnes, down about 19% from a year ago, valued at $174.1 million, down about 8%.
The yen has been struggling versus the US dollar, and the currency slipped to its October 2022 low of 150 per dollar, the USMEF said. Plus, there are ideas the Bank of Japan will tighten its monetary policy in an effort to strengthen the yen as US treasury yields rose.
Beef exports to South Korea are less than last year’s record pace, the USMEF said. But South Korea remains the leading value market for US beef and is slightly ahead of Japan as the No. 1 volume market.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $185.57 per cwt to $186.46, compared with last week’s range of $182.09 to $187.00 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $290.07 per cwt to $292.16, compared with $285.90 to $294.21.
The USDA choice cutout Monday was down $0.84 per cwt at $304.54 while select was up $2.32 at $281.02. The choice/select spread narrowed to $23.52 from $26.68 with 72 loads of fabricated product and 33 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were down $0.05 to $0.10 at $1.25 to $1.35 a bushel over the Dec corn contract, which settled at $4.90 1/4 a bushel, down $0.05 1/4.
No live cattle contracts were posted for delivery Monday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Friday was $243.56 per cwt, down $0.43. This compares with Monday’s Oct contract settlement of $237.62, down $4.20.