February 23, 2007

World beef imports to grow 27 percent

The world's major beef importing countries will increase imports by 27 percent or 1.4 million tonnes cwt between 2007 and 2016, according to the latest long term agricultural projections released by the USDA.

The growth can be attributed to increasing incomes and population expansion in several countries. Also contributing to the overall increase in beef imports will be the large volume of lower quality beef exports by Brazil to lower income countries.

Increasing beef imports, mainly high quality grainfed product, to developed countries such as Japan and South Korea, will be driven by their lack of capacity to increase domestic production, says the USDA report.

The agency expects a recovery in US exports to Japan and South Korea over the next 10 years, though it feels the growth might not reach pre-BSE levels. US beef imports are forecast to increase moderately, especially from Australia and New Zealand.

Also, Russia will maintain its import quotas until 2009 after which imports will begin to grow as demand surpasses domestic production. Brazil and the EU are expected to benefit the most from Russia.