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The beef checkoff program is helping beef producers maintain an ongoing, active presence among foreign buyers and consumers despite prolonged delays in re-opening some foreign markets to U.S. beef following last December's confirmation of a single BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) case.
That was a key message delivered to Texas Beef Council leaders who attended an update on the global beef situation from the U.S. Meat Export Federation Aug. 11 in Denver. The Texas producers were in Denver to participate in the summer conference of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association
In 2003, U.S. beef was exported to about 100 countries around the world. About 60 of those instituted bans after the BSE announcement. The other 40, including the European Union and Eastern Europe, which accounted for less than 5 percent of total U.S. beef exports, never closed. As of mid-August, about 20 countries have reopened, leaving 40 countries, including the significant Asian markets of Japan, South Korea and mainland China, still closed to U.S. beef products.
"Before Dec. 23, the United States had 24 percent of the world's beef trade," Phil Seng, USMEF president and CEO, told the Texas delegation. "Fifty percent of the beef consumed in South Korea was from the U.S. and 35 percent of the beef eaten in Japan was U.S. beef."
That all changed with the single case of BSE, Seng said. Foreign governments halted beef trade with the U.S. and those actions "left a tremendous void" in the U.S. beef marketing structure, Seng said.
Checkoff dollars and government Market Access Program funds have helped USMEF quickly rebuild demand for U.S. beef in Mexico, currently the No. 1 importer of U.S. beef products, as well as smaller markets that have reopened since December. Yet checkoff dollars also are helping USMEF maintain visibility for U.S. beef in all countries that have remained closed.
"We continue providing information in these closed markets," Seng said. "We have 20 years of history in these countries, and we are well known. Our presence reassures buyers and consumers, and serves a dual purpose of providing our government and our industry with position papers," that are used in negotiations to regain market access.
After listening to the update, Austin rancher and Texas Farm Bureau State Director Dan Dierschke said that USMEF's activities in the wake of the BSE case will prove valuable to all beef producers.
"USMEF's activities in maintaining awareness of American products are absolutely critical to beef producers," Dierschke said. "They're a vital investment in our future, because when these markets open, as they will, USMEF's activities funded by the beef checkoff program will give us a head start in regaining our market share."
Cattle feeder Leo Vermedahl of Texline, another Texas beef producer who attended the meeting, said USMEF's ongoing checkoff-funded activities continue to help improve live cattle prices that are augmented by healthy foreign beef sales.
"No matter where we're at in the value ladder," Vermedahl said, "exports contribute in excess of $10 per hundred to the value of cattle. Re-establishing exports that are now closed to us will add back that value."
Seng warned the Texas producers that even as the industry regains access, it will face strong competition from major beef-producing countries like Brazil that desire to become major exporters. Some of these countries have gained footholds in countries that have been long-time buyers of U.S. beef but had to seek alternative suppliers following the BSE case.
