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Thankful for Livestock

Posted on November 11, 2016 at 9:46 AM by Natalie Te Grootenhuis

Thankful for livestock:

Over the past few months we have seen low prices throughout agriculture, the livestock industry is arguable been hit the hardest. The importance of value added corn and red meat exports has never been more important to Iowa’s corn farmers than it is now. The good news is that exports have been on the raise.

 

United States Meat Export Federation (USMEF) has released results showing a strong third quarter for red meat exports. September of 2016 export volume was 1010,224 metrics tons which is up 27 percent from last year at that time. For the first time in 2016 the export value was $4.54 billion only down 5 percent from a year ago compared to around 17 percent decrease we were seeing for the first three quarters of 2016.     

 

The good news doesn’t just stop at red meat exports either pork has reported that they have seen a 7 percent increase in exports since last year at this time. January through September export were valued at $4.27 billion which is up one percent from the same period last year.

 

The trends both in red meat and pork are crucial in the upcoming months as we expect high volumes of both pork and beef to be hitting the market.  The upcoming months will be a true tell if there is a recover recent margin losses in the livestock industry and then in return see a rally in commodity prices. The expansion of growing markets can help this turn in prices one of these expanding markets that we feel most promising is with Japan and Korea. 

 

For the first time in US history we have become the number one exporting country to Japan by surpassing Australia. Beef exports to Japan alone were up 20% compared to the year before, the growing strength of Japan as a nation is promising and it is believed that this trend will continue in the short term. While a growing Japan is good for beef exports it also means a decrease in pork exports. As Japan grows they continue to increase pork production, the good news is that Japan is not the only growing nation. The beginning of the year was rough for pork exports to Mexico but in recent months we have seen a good rally in the country resulting in September being the second highest monthly volume on record.

 

For a complete look at the article and projections on upcoming exports click here 

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