US beef exports in October were the largest since June

US beef and variety meat exports totaled 93,448 mt in October, down 11% year-over-year but the largest since June and 16% above the low volume posted in September, informed the US Meat Export Federation (Usmef) based in USDA data. Muscle cut exports accounted for 67,885 tons.

Export value was also the highest since June at $759.5 million, down 12% from a year ago but 15% above September.

October beef exports increased year-over-year to Japan, Taiwan, Canada, the ASEAN region and the Dominican Republic, while also jumping sharply to Colombia. But these gains were more than offset by lack of access to China, which has reduced exports to minimal volumes for the past several months. For markets other than China, October beef exports were up 5% year-over-year in volume and up 7% in value.

January-October beef and variety meat exports totaled 949,471 mt, down 11% from the 2024 pace, while value was down 10% to $7.79 billion. When excluding China from these results, exports were down 3% in volume and just 1% in value compared to the first 10 months of 2024.