US beef export volumes, published by the US Meat Exporters Federation (USMEF) for June, fell to 93,928 tonnes (t), 15% lower than June last year and the lowest since June 2020. Exports to China have almost come to a stop with just 3,102t, a fraction of the 13,684t exported in June last year.

The 32% tariff is described by USMEF as “not insurmountable,” the greater problem being that China has failed to renew the export licences of most beef exporting facilities which expired in March of this year. A further issue highlighted by USMEF is that the effective absence of China as an option has meant that US exporters are “losing the premiums generated when Chinese buyers compete for cuts that are especially popular throughout Asia”.

Other markets

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US beef exports to South Korea were at 19,310t in June, similar to last year while the half year volume to the end of June was up 8% at 126,177t.

The US trading relationship with South Korea is complex. Tariffs on US beef imports have been slashed from 40% to zero from the start of next year.

However, there remains an issue with beef having to be from cattle under thirty months and beef from cattle that originated in Canada have to be on the finishing farm in the US for at least 100 days.

As an aside, for Irish beef exports to South Korea, there is also a 30-month age limit.

In June, 17,066t of US beef was exported to Mexico, similar to last year, but overall volume for the first half of the year was down 7% compared with the first half of 2024.

Exports to Japan were down 10% in June at 19,993t, though stronger performance earlier in the year meant that the total for the first half was only down 2% at 124,005t. US beef exports to Japan currently pay a 21.6% tariff, the highest of their active export markets though this will fall to 9% by 2033.

EU and UK

Europe continues to be a problem market for US beef exports and in June only 1,422t were exported which was lower than the 1,643t exported in June last year.

This brought the total for the first half of the year to 9,226t which was up on the 8,717t exported in the first half of 2024. The main problem with exports to Europe is that the beef has to be from cattle that haven’t received growth promoting hormones.

Most US farmers choose to use hormones and therefore exclude both the EU and UK as market options.

Pork

USMEF described pork exports as having “bounced back in June,” increasing by 7% to 239,304t.

Despite this however, export total for the first half of the year was down 4% at 1.46m tonnes compared with the record volumes exported in the first half of 2024.

The tariff on exports to China is a penal 57% which effectively restricts business to variety meats.

On a more positive note, pork exporting factories haven’t had the same licence renewal problems that have been experienced by their beef counterparts.