Beef imports into U.S. to fall

This is ho-hum news: beef imports into the U.S. will fall shortly. This is an annual event, just as when they rise early in 2009. Beef is only imported when the domestic supply leaves grinders short of what they need to meet the demands of the fast food restaurants like McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's, as well as the school lunch and other government feeding programs.

Grinding beef is more plentiful in the fall, when the cows that didn't breed back are culled and output from the feedlots is at its highest. There is less need to import grinding carcasses from Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, etc. at this time.

The ads you see for Brazilian, Australian and other beef in the U.S. are full of pictures of happy diner, devouring delicious cuts. The truth is, 95% of that type of beef in the U.S. is domestic. There is very little grain fed, feedlot-fattened beef produced in the world, except in the U.S., which is where the steaks, roasts and other prime cuts come from.

While the health food crowd likes to trumpet grass fed beef for being low cholesterol and low fat, it is also low taste and tough. Any reasonably decent steakhouse serves grain fed beef, almost none of which is imported into this country.

Most of the grinding beef comes from culled cows, both beef and dairy, as well as old bulls. Added in is the trim in the packing house from grain fed carcasses. Much of the year, the U.S. has an adequate supply of old cows to meet this need. Since more than 80% of the beef sold in the U.S. is ground, due primarily to the fast food restaurants, some times of the year there aren't enough cull cows and trim to meet the need. Then we turn to imports--first from Canada and Mexico, because the freight is so much less--then from Australia and the farther-out countries.

Cattlemen love to denigrate foreign beef and decry the competition it presents to the U.S. product in the domestic market. The truth is, it is no threat, and in fact, very necessary at some times of the year.