DENVER — Beef and pork exports amounting to $18.1 billion in 2023 created significant impact for corn and soybean industries, according to an independent study conducted by The Juday Group and released by the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

The study quantified the returns that beef and pork exports brought to corn and soybean producers nationally and on a state-by-state level for leading corn and soybean-producing states.

“We’ve been charting the impact of red meat exports on corn and soybean value since 2016,” said Dave Juday, founder and principal of The Juday Group. “Despite the international headwinds the red meat industry faced in 2023, red meat exports contributed substantially to the bushel values of US corn and soybeans.”

Nationally, US beef and pork exports contributed an estimated total economic impact of 14.6% per bushel to the value of corn and 13.9% per bushel to soybeans in 2023.

The Juday Group compiled data from the US Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) from 2023 to form its key findings, including the following:

• Beef and pork exports accounted for 512.7 million bushels of US corn usage, which equated to a market value of $3.05 billion (at an average 2023 corn price of $5.95 per bushel).
• Beef and pork exports accounted for 3.07 million tonnes of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) usage, equating to $671.62 million (at an average price of $219 per tonne).
• Beef and pork exports contributed an estimated total economic impact of 14.6%, or 87¢, of corn bushel value at an average price of $5.95 per bushel.
• Pork exports accounted for 96.8 million bushels of US soybean usage, which equated to a market value of $1.36 billion (at an average price of $14.07 per bushel).
• Pork exports contributed an estimated total economic impact of 13.9% of soybean bushel value, or $1.95, at an average price of $14.07 per bushel.

Additional details on the impact of meat exports at the national level and on the leading corn-producing and soybean-producing states are available on the USMEF website.

USMEF Chair Randy Spronk, a pork and grain producer in Edgerton, Minn., noted that the quality of US corn and soybeans as feed inputs is a key differentiator for US red meat in international markets.

“Our production practices and the quality of our feed inputs is an important part of the story that USMEF promotes to international customers,” Spronk said. “How we raise our soybeans, how we raise our corn, how we process our feed and the efficiencies we strive for — those are sustainable practices that help differentiate us from other beef and pork exporters.”