US beef exports continued to fall in April, down 10% compared with last year at 111,416t, with the value falling by 18% to $859.5m.

This means that for the first four months of 2023, the volume is down 8% to 437,910t, with an even sharper fall in value that is down 21% to $3.21bn from the record volumes and value in the first four months of 2022.

Availability of supply is reduced so far in 2023, with USDA data showing that the cattle kill is down from 2.2% to 14.4m head up to 10 June, compared with 14.9m for the same period last year.

President and CEO Dan Halstrom said that while reduced exports were keeping a similar share of production, he was confident returning tourism would drive demand in Asia.

He also flagged concern with the west-coast port dispute, which has had sporadic work stoppages and potential to disrupt US beef and pork exports to Asia if not resolved.

Continued market growth

While Europe is a small market for US beef overall, it continued to show growth in April. Volume to the EU and UK was up 25% in April compared with the previous year at 2.345t, making the year-to-date volume of 7,176t, which is 14% ahead of 2022 to this point.

The US has access to a 27,800t tariff-free, high quality beef quota for hormone-free beef for this year.

This previously included the UK, but since Brexit, all US beef entering the UK is subject to full tariffs of 12.8%, plus the equivalent of €3.03/kg.