ONE IN FOUR BUSHELS ADDED CORN DEMAND DUE TO RED MEAT EXPORTS

Lindsay Mitchell

Feb 26, 2019  |  Today's News |  Livestock |  Exports

Since 2015, indirect exports – or the feed utilized by U.S. meat exports - represent the fastest growing category of corn use, says a study by World Perspectives, commissioned by the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

From 2015 to 2018, one in every four bushels of added feed demand for corn is due to beef and pork exports.

Meat exports help corn farmers and ethanol mills not only by increasing the quantity demanded of corn and DDGS, but also by increasing value. Export markets are a way to provide extra value to the carcass by exporting cuts that are undervalued in the U.S. These cuts include beef short plate, short ribs, chuck short ribs, and chuck and round cuts as well as pork hams, butts, picnics, and loins. Further value is added by the export of variety meats.

 

By exporting these otherwise undervalued cuts, value is added to the overall carcass. In 2015, for beef, exports created a value of $277.87 per slaughtered head; in 2018 the projected value is $317.15 per slaughtered head for beef. Pork exports created a value of $48.31 per slaughtered head in 2015; in 2018 the value is projected to be $54.38 per slaughtered head for pork. This value can be considered an export premium.

Check out more of the interesting impacts the growth in U.S. meat exports could have on the bottom line of Illinois corn farmers by reading this study here.

 

Thank you to the U.S. Meat Export Federation – an important partner of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board – for their work promoting U.S. beef and pork around the world.