The U.S. red meat industry has achieved outstanding export growth in recent years, despite several headwinds that made it difficult. Severe congestion at the West Coast ports because of a prolonged labor impasse, and unusually large supplies of Australian beef has poured into key Asian markets, buoyed by favorable exchange rates.
Bruce Carpenter Texas A&M Agrilife
China is one of only a handful of international markets that never reopened to U.S. beef following the 2003 BSE case. That may change soon according to Chinese officials and U.S. cattle industry representatives.
“We’ve done everything we can to stop BSE and haven’t’ had any in a long time,” says Bruce Carpenter, professor and extension specialist with Texas A&M Agrilife. “We have rules in place to manage it and stop it and they seemed to be working.”
Listen to Carpenters comments here:
