Why Does the U.S. Both Import and Export Beef?

COW/CALF CORNER
The Newsletter
From the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service
June 4, 2010

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist

The job of markets is to seek out the highest value for products produced and encourage the most efficient use of resources to facilitate that production. Keeping this in mind helps explain current production and trade relationships in the U.S. beef industry. The U.S. is the largest producer, the largest consumer, the third largest exporter and the largest importer of beef in the world. I get many questions about U.S. beef trade and particularly why we need to import beef.