The latest European Commission market statistics shows a decline in the volume of beef exported from the EU and imported into the EU for the first eight months of the year.

Exports of beef and live animals in carcase weight equivalent were recorded at 481,346t. This represents a reduction of 22,093t.

Table 1 gives a detailed breakdown by market destination. Hong Kong remains the most important export market despite exports falling by 9.2%.

A contributor to exports falling is likely to be the approval of beef exports from a number of EU countries to the Chinese market and a reduction in beef volumes passing through Hong Kong and into China through what is commonly known as the grey channel.

Exports to China have recorded in excess of 100% growth on the previous year. This figure is likely to have recorded another sharp jump in the September to November period as China struggles to come to terms with a major meat deficit caused by African swine fever.

Other notable changes are a welcome recovery in exports the Philippines and a 35% increase in exports to Algeria. On the flip side volumes exported to Turkey have plummeted due to a major devaluation in the value of the Lira.

Import volumes

Brazil remains the major market supplying beef to the EU. Volumes have fallen only slightly despite huge growth in exports of Brazilian beef to China. This has been achieved by huge growth in export volumes with the level of beef exports for the first eight months of the year rising by over 100,000t to reach in excess of 1.1mt.

While on the subject of Chinese beef imports total volumes imported by China and Hong Kong for the January to August period was recorded in the region of 1.54mt compared to approximately 1.28mt for the corresponding period in 2018.

China’s insatiable demand for pork alternatives is changing market dynamics in many other regions and is likely to be contributing to reduced EU imports from Australia, Uruguay and New Zealand. Argentinian exports have soared in recent months with volumes exported in September increasing 50% on year earlier levels.

This increase in exports is expected to intensify ahead of proposed sanctions and tariffs on beef and soya bean exports.

Also of note, exports to Japan are slowly increasing following the recent increase in market access.

Irish beef in the global market

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EU beef imports and exports fall in first eight months of 2019

The volume of beef exported from the EU up until the end of August fell by 4.4% or over 20,000t with beef imports falling by a similar percentage and in the region of 10,000t less.