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Australian beef leads U.S. food imports

Australian beef is leading the increase in foreign ag and food imports into the United States.  USDA analyst Bryce Cooke says the strong U.S. economy and strong dollar have led to an increase of $4 Billion in imports in the first six months of this fiscal year over the first six months of the previous fiscal year. Cooke says, “It’s an increase in value of 88% which is pretty large.”

He says a lot of beef is coming from Australia which is suffering from drought, much like California, “And that’s played into the decision making of the large producers there to potentially liquidate or send their cows to slaughter which has opened up the floodgates for exports and the United States being a large consumer of beef and veal we’ve taken on a large percentage of that growth.” Beef production in the U.S. has dropped every year for the past three years.

~USDA