Mixed Bag of Meat: What will 2024 hold for U.S. red meat exports?

U.S. red meat export forecasts for 2024, are a mixed bag.

The Vice President of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Meat Export Federation highlights the advantage of our pork for further growth in the global market.

According to Erin Borror, “On the supply side in really both Europe and China, what’s happened is Europe’s production has declined by about 2.8 million metric tons or by about 12 percent if we look at their 2021 peak production compared to where it’s going to end this year. But it’s lined up exactly with China’s decrease in imports of pork, so they will have declined about the same, about 2.8 million tons lower than at their peak. And in 2024, talking to European producers, there was not much optimism for a rebound whatsoever. There is a chance that China’s production moderates in 2024. It’s hard to get excited about that at this moment. We’re still watching and not putting our hopes on it.”

Following the Federal Reserve meeting in December, the markets are expecting lower interest rates later this year and the possibility of a weaker dollar, especially for commodity exports.

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