April 7, 2021
IARN The U.S. Meat Export Federation says U.S. exporters have seen a significant development for U.S. beef access in Saudi Arabia.
USMEF senior director of export services and access Travis Arp says the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) recently approved a regulation increasing the shelf life for chilled beef sold in Saudi Arabia by 50 days, with the new standard being 120 days from the date of slaughter. He says the former 70-day shelf-life limit had been a source of frustration for several years.
For more on this story, including comments from Travis Arp, visit the
- Dan Halstrom, USMEF president and CEO
February exports of U.S. beef and pork remained below the rapid pace established in early 2020, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). However, exports were consistent with USMEF’s February projections and the federation still expects 2021 beef exports to increase substantially year-over-year, while pork exports are projected to narrowly surpass the 2020 record.
Beef exports totaled 103,493 metric tons (mt) in February, down 8% from a year ago, valued at $669.5 million (down 2%). This was due mainly to a decline in variety meat exports, as beef muscle cuts were steady with last year in value at $597.9 million on a volume of 82,530 mt (down 3%). Through February, beef exports were 5% below last year’s pace at 208,540 mt, valued at $1.32 billion (down 2%). Beef muscle cut exports were down 1% to 163,928 mt and steady in value at $1.18 billion. Beef exports to South Korea are off to a very
Last year was the second highest year for U.S. agricultural exports, according to USDA s Foreign Agricultural Service s (FAS) 2020 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook. Total exports were nearly $146 billion, an increase of approximately 7%. This is the second highest level on record, after 2014.
FAS said the primary factor for the increase in exports was the increased shipments of soybeans, corn and pork to China.
Soybeans were the United States number one agricultural export at $25.7 billion, an increase of 38% over 2019. Soybeans represented nearly 18% of total U.S. agricultural exports in 2020, with China accounting for 55% of total soybean exports.
Corn exports were $9.2 billion, an increase of 20% over 2019, led by a $1.1 billion increase in exports to China. Mexico and Japan were the top two markets.
April 9, 2021
IARN The Philippine government has announced it will provide more market access for pork imports, which is good news for U.S. pork producers.
Securing better access to the Philippine market has been a top, long-term trade priority for the National Pork Producers Council as well as the U.S. Meat Export Federation. USMEF’s Joe Schuele says this latest announcement is an effort to combat rising pork prices and stabilize supplies.
“The Philippines, like some other Asian countries, has struggled over the past year and a half with African Swine Fever,” Schuele said. “It’s taken quite a toll on its domestic pork production. The Philippines has always been a fairly large importer of pork but was largely self-sufficient. It has a pretty substantial pork industry of its own. With African Swine Fever, their production has really been impacted. The estimates are that their production was down about 30 percent in 2020.”