In an email we received this week, a farm journalist, referring to our column on US beef trade, asked what we thought was behind the increase in beef imports. As shown in the column, US beef imports have increased at a faster rate than US beef exports over the last few years (http://tinyurl.com/h78eptv). The reporter’s question, which we failed to address, is: Why?

First let’s go to the beef import numbers, noting the major country sources of US beef imports. In 2015, the US imported $9.1 billion worth of beef from all countries. Of that number, $7.0 billion came from three countries with which we have a free trade agreement (FTA), Australia ($2.6 billion), Canada ($2.5 billion), and Mexico ($1.9 billion).

Live beef accounts for $2.2 billion of that total. Canada sent $1.3 billion worth of live cattle across our northern border while Mexico shipped $0.8 billion in from the south.

In 2015 the US imported $2.8 billion in fresh and chilled beef. Canada exported $1.0 billion of that fresh or chilled beef to the US followed by Mexico ($0.9 billion) and Australia ($0.7 billion).

Frozen beef accounted for $3.4 billion of the US imports of beef in 2105. Australia supplied $1.7 billion of that while New Zealand provided $1.1 billion. Nine other countries provided the rest with Uruguay accounting for $194 million and Nicaragua sending in $132 million in frozen beef.

US beef imports increased from $3.2 billion in 1992 to $5.7 billion in 2013, an average of $113 million a year (fi gure 1). In 2014 and 2015, beef imports increased by $3.4 billion or $1.7 billion a year.

Source: Economy in Crisis