NASHVILLE, TENN. (RFD NEWS) — Demand for U.S. beef continues to show strong momentum in Mexico, offering new opportunities for producers and processors across the supply chain.
One Nebraska producer says recent conversations with buyers south of the border highlight how specific preferences are helping maximize the value of every animal. Dr. June Loseke says interest in “variety meats” — cuts less commonly consumed in the U.S. — plays a critical role in overall carcass utilization.
“When I think about variety meats, things that we as Americans don’t eat and don’t consume on that steer — where it’s going, what it’s doing, and how people are excited to have that in their country — we can’t minimize that,” Loseke said. “But they’re also looking at quality. We saw prime and choice USDA grade on display for consumers, and they’re willing to pay $20 to $30 a pound for that choice and prime ribeye.”
New data from the U.S. Meat Export Federation shows Mexico’s demand extends well beyond variety meats. Loseke notes that February export figures reflect continued growth, with total exports rising 12 percent year over year and value climbing significantly.
“The leaders were Mexico, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, and that value is up 40 percent to $106 million,” she said. “When you see USDA Prime and Choice next to labeled Argentina or Australian beef, the marbling and quality differences are visual. We have a presence in that meat case that consumers are wanting.”
Loseke says that demand was evident during a recent industry symposium in Mexico City, where a U.S. delegation toured retail outlets to see firsthand how American beef and pork are marketed.
For producers, she says, the growing global appetite for high-quality U.S. beef reinforces the value of what they raise every day: “As a producer, when I look at my steers, I just think — you are going to feed people really great meat.”
Attention is also focused on potential movement toward reopening the southern border for cattle trade. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins is scheduled to visit the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona this week and has said the U.S. is on a strong path toward reopening, citing no reported cases of New World screwworm within hundreds of miles of ArizonaThe .
However, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) continues to monitor the situation closely, noting differences in risk conditions along the Texas border. NCBA’s Sigrid Johannes pointed to a recent detection roughly 90 miles south of the U.S. border in Nuevo León, Mexico, involving a case of a dog with advanced larvae, emphasizing ongoing concerns about the disease’s proximity.
Johannes added that the detection does not appear to involve livestock and underscored uncertainty about the origin of the infected animal.
U.S. Department of Agriculture also broken ground on a sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas. Once operational, the facility is expected to produce 100 million sterile flies per week. Combined with existing operations, total output would reach approximately 300 million sterile flies per week
