September 3, 2010

US beef exports see firm footing

Beef exports in the US continue to maintain a torrid pace with USDA on Thursday (Sep 2) reporting last week's net sales at 11,600 tonnes, down 4% from the prior week, but up 8% from the four-week average.

The latest business, led by Japan and Vietnam, puts year-to-date sales at 460,300 tonnes, up 31% from a year ago, USDA said.

Shipments are also up from last year at 11,500 tonnes, versus 9,700 a year ago.

"Weekly beef exports (shipments) are 18% above last year, that increase is down a little bit from the last two weeks," said Rich Nelson, analyst at Allendale. "I would not call it bearish because this is the time last year when we had a surge and went higher than normal."

"The bottom line is these are still good numbers," he said.

The increase in beef exports has been attributed in part to less production in other key global producers such as Australia and South America.

Leading last week's business was Japan with 4,800 tonnes, Vietnam with 1,700, and Mexico with 1,500.

Beef exports are partly the reason US beef and cattle prices are higher than a year ago, said analysts.

USDA estimates 2010 US beef exports will be nearly 2.20 billion lbs, up 13.4% from 2009.