Org Newsroom Menu Beef. But to sustain and grow the trade surplus, expanding access to international markets is vital. From Russia and China to Mexico and Canada, opportunities abound for the U.S. beef industry to increase international beef trade.
Cattlemen know that our growth market is beyond U.S. borders.
Only four percent of the world's population lives in the United States. Population demographics show that the cattle industry needs to aggressively seize opportunities to market products in countries with young, fast-growing populations possessing increasingly disposable incomes. Exports of U.S. beef and beef variety meats during the first nine months of 1998 increased 7.45 percent in volume compared to the same time in 1997, but declined 4.55 percent in value. Beef imports increased 9.8 percent in volume and 12.3 percent in value. Devaluation of foreign currencies and record supplies of competing meats, as well as continuing economic turmoil in some foreign countries and increased beef production in major beef producing countries contributed to the difference in 1997 and 1998 numbers, Lambert says.