Beef exports came in below what I had penciled for the month, with continued weakness to Japan, also less to Korea and slightly less than expected for China and ASEAN; but Taiwan outperformed.

Beef variety meats were on track, with growth to Mexico, S. Africa, Korea, HK, Indonesia, and Gabon mostly offsetting the decreases to Japan, Egypt, China, Peru and Colombia.

Beef exports continue to account for a historically large share of production and $/head.

Beef Highlights:

June 2023:

Beef: 89,426 mt, -14%; $804.9 million, -15%
BVM: 25,686 mt, -2.5%; $104.53 million, +2%
Beef/BVM: 115,112 mt, -12%; $909.47 million, -13%

June exports were larger for Mexico, Canada, Taiwan, HK, S. Africa and DR.

1H Beef Highlights 2023

Beef: 525,882 mt, -11%, $4.444 billion, -20%
BVM: 143,294 mt, -4.6%; $552.68 million, -12%
Beef/BVM: 669,177 mt, -10%; $4.996 billion, -19% (but still larger than the $4.63 billion exported in 1H 2021)

June 2023 beef exports accounted for 12% of production and 14.3% when adding variety meats, compared to 13.3% and 15.5% in June 2022. January –June 2023 beef exports accounted for 12.2% of production and 14.4% when adding variety meats, compared to 13.2% and 15.4% for January – June 2022.

June 2023 beef export value per head of fed slaughter averaged $407.12/head, down 9% or -$40.56/head from $447.68/head in June 2022.  January – June 2023 beef export value per head of fed slaughter averaged $394.39/head, down 17% or -$83.11/head from $477.49/head for January – June 2022.

Beef exports continue to account for a historically large share of production and $/head.

Source: USMEF