Selling U.S. beef to the rest of the world

WASHINGTON - You know that the beef produced in the United States is delicious, nutritious and safe to eat. But did you know that consumers in more than 80 countries worldwide know that, too, thanks in part to your beef-checkoff investments?

Foreign marketing of U.S. beef makes sense when you know that 95 percent of the global population – and 80 percent of the global buying power – is outside of U.S. borders. With the global population projected to nearly double by 2050, it’s easy to see that exports of U.S. beef represent a growth opportunity for U.S. beef producers.

The checkoff is helping to increase exports of U.S. beef to consumers across the globe from Japan to the Middle East, Mexico to Russia, Taiwan, Europe and more. See an example of marketing efforts in Sweden in this video.

The Beef Checkoff’s role

In fiscal 2017, the Beef Checkoff Program is investing $7.2 million of national checkoff dollars in foreign marketing and education. Our current domestic marketplace is a good example of why the volunteer producer leaders of the checkoff program have made global marketing a priority. The historic rapid rebuilding of the domestic herd during the past year has resulted  in a dramatic increase in U.S. beef production. Add to that similar increases in U.S. pork and poultry production and you get stiff competition for consumers’ taste buds.

But the global marketplace offers tremendous options for selling that expanded beef supply at strong prices. One of our key markets is Japan, which imported more than 425 million pounds of U.S. beef, valued at $1.12 billion, during the first 10 months of 2016 alone! That represented an 11 percent increase in value and a 20 percent increase in the volume of U.S. beef that we sent to Japan during the same period in 2015. During those same 10 months, the U.S. sold another 270.5 million pounds of U.S. beef, valued at more than $715 million, to South Korea, up 17 percent from 2015 and on pace to break the 2014 full-year value record of $847.4 million.

In the more than 80 countries where the checkoff helps promote U.S. beef, it works to see that consumers worldwide understand our product, trust our industry and know how U.S. beef can benefit them. There’s lots of competition for international business, and our checkoff helps make sure that we’re in the running for it.

The bottom line

All told, the U.S. exported 2.1 billion pounds of U.S. beef, valued at $5.1 billion during the first 10 months of 2016. What’s more, those sales – and the checkoff-funded programs that support them – add more than $250 in value to each head. We think that’s a powerful return, don’t you?

For more information about your beef checkoff investment, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.