Changing Supply/Demand Picture Reshaping Foreign Outlook
Clint Peck
Beef Magazine
The key drivers in the short-term outlook for U.S. meat exports include politics, economic variables, domestic production, market access, consumer trends and competitor developments. Here’s a market by market analysis:
Asia/Pacific Rim. These drivers appear to be the basis for the four major themes that impacted beef marketing in the Asia/Pacific region in 2007 and into 2008, says Joel Haggard, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) senior vice president. Each country in Southeast Asia presents its own basic meat demand parameters the U.S. must meet if market access is to increase, he says.
The first major theme is the access constraints U.S. beef continues to face from Korea and Japan. “Partial market access has reduced sales to 60% of the capacity seen before 2003, the equivalent to $50 million/week in lost sales,” he says.
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