Friday, October 28, 2016

Which Nation Exports the Most Beef?

India is the world's largest beef exporter, followed by Brazil, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand.



This explains the situation further, from the USDA:

Since the late 2000s, India has rapidly increased its beef exports—specifically water buffalo meat, also known as carabeef—narrowly overtaking Brazil as the world’s largest beef exporter in 2014. Recent ERS research shows that India’s beef exports grew from an average of 0.31 million tons during 1999-2001 to an estimated 2.1 million tons during 2013-15, or about 12 percent annually. Over the same period, India increased its share of world beef exports from just 5 percent to about 21 percent. Although the U.S. share of global beef exports declined from 18 percent to 11 percent during this period, the decline does not appear to stem from increased competition from India, as Indian beef suppliers serve distinctly different market segments from those targeted by U.S. exporters.

The rapid expansion in India’s beef exports has been driven by three main factors. First, global demand for India’s relatively low-cost water buffalo meat is strong, particularly among low- and middle-income countries in Asia and the Middle East. The United States and most other developed-country beef exporters primarily supply higher cost beef products that target higher income markets and consumers. The relatively low price of Indian beef reflects perceived quality differences: it is buffalo rather than cattle meat, it is produced primarily from culled dairy animals, and it cannot meet the stricter sanitary and phytosanitary standards common in more advanced markets.