December 28, 2009

US imports more beef in October this year

The US imported 64,592 tonnes of beef and veal in October, up 11.2% from September and up 6.8% year-on-year.

Fresh chilled beef imports increased 7% from September and 10.8% from October 2008 to 28,296 tonnes. Frozen beef imports reached 31,159 tonnes, up 21.1% from September but dropped 1.4% from October 2008.

During October, the US imported 22,012 tonnes of Australian beef, up 27.8% from the previous month. Year-to-date beef imports from Australia increased 38.7% from a year ago to 235,800 tonnes.

Australia was the leading beef supplier to the US with 31.6% of total imports. During October, the US imported 23,478 tonnes of beef from Canada, up 2.6% from the previous month. Year-to-date beef imports from Canada were down 2.8%.

Beef imports from New Zealand during October rose 44.2% over the previous month to 6,742 tonnes. Year-to-date beef imports from New Zealand totalled 152,614 tonnes, which was slightly less than a year ago.

Total year-to-date beef imports from Uruguay were up 53.9% over last year, amounting to 21,023 tonnes. Overall, US total year-to-date beef and veal imports equaled 747,350 tonnes, up 10.3% from the corresponding period a year ago.