Feeding the World

• The U.S. exported 1.07 million metric tons (MT*) of beef and beef variety meat in 2010, up 19% from 2009. Export value of beef and beef variety meat exports reached a record $4.08 billion in 2010, up 32% from 2009 and broke the 2003 record of $3.144 billion.
• On a volume and value basis, the top three markets for U.S. beef in 2010 were Mexico, Canada and Japan. Records were also set in Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Caribbean, Central-South America regions, Canada and the Middle East.
• The U.S. exported 1.92 million MT of pork and pork variety meat in 2010, up 3% from 2009. Annual total pork shipments were valued at $4.78 billion, up 12% from 2009.
• The top markets for U.S. pork in terms of volume were Mexico, Japan and China/Hong Kong, but in terms of value were Japan, Mexico and Canada.
• The U.S. exported 3.7 million MT of poultry and poultry variety meats in 2010, down 4.4% from 2009. The value was down slightly .42% at $4.25 billion.
• Exports in 2010 accounted for 18.9 percent of U.S. pork production, 19.8 percent of poultry production and 9 percent of beef production.
  *1 MT = 2204.6 lbs