AUDIO: Jay Theiler, US Meat Export Federation
The chairman of the US Meat Export Federation says Mexico is becoming an increasingly important market for beef and pork exports.
Jay Theiler tells Brownfield growth is coming at a critical time, especially after the US lost market access for beef in China. “Having these markets for these tongues in Japan, or whether it’s these sweetbreads and the tripe coming down here, it just is really part of the mix to make sure that we’re getting the most value for our carcasses,” he says.
He says the market growth has benefitted cattle and hog producers.c “On the beef side, it represents $55 a head, and on the pork side, it represents $22 a head,” he says.
USMEF has been in Mexico City for the Red Meat Symposium, Theiler says it’s provide an opportunity for buyers to connect with US farmers and ranchers. “The supply is one of the things we heard a lot about,” he says. “The other thing I think is there’s a lot more opportunity for diversification of usage. They’re working on like product diversification on like arrachera, which is skirt steak and it’s marinated and there are all kinds of new flavors that are being developed.”
The value of total beef exports to Mexico are around $1.3 billion with variety meats totaling about $325 million and pork exports to Mexico are valued at around $2.9 billion.
