Robust exports of U.S. beef and pork brought significant returns to the U.S. corn and soybean industries in 2022, according to an independent study conducted by World Perspectives, Inc. commissioned by the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Those exports were valued at more than $4.2 billion. But their impact on prices for all U.S. corn and soybeans was much higher — nearly $22.2 billion.

The study found exports added about $1 a bushel to the price of corn and almost $2 a bushel to the price of soybeans. 

“We are a major exporter of corn and soybeans but this study reminds us of the value of our indirect exports of corn and soybeans through pork and beef,” said Dave Juday, senior analyst for World Perspectives.

“The contributions of pork and beef exports to the per-bushel value of U.S. corn and soybeans in 2022 were the highest estimates we’ve seen to date. And that was critically important, as corn and soybean farmers worked to maintain margins with higher input costs across the board,” he said.

Red meat exports contributed about 15% of the per-bushel value to corn and about 13% of the per-bushel value of soybeans, he said.

The equivalent of feed usage for red meat exports in 2022 would be about 503 million bushels of corn and about 89.7 million bushels of soybeans, he said.

Meat exports added $1.01 to the per-bushel corn price, the highest since World Perspectives began tracking the data in 2015, he said.

“We can track that back to record beef exports and a shorter supply of corn in the U.S. market,” he said.

At an average price of $6.75 per bushel, that corn use of 503 million bushels represents $3.4 million in market value for corn. That $1.01 per-bushel of added value across the entire U.S. corn crop of 13.7 billion bushels accounts for $13.87 billion of market value.

Meat exports also added $1.94 to the per-bushel soybean price. About 89.7 million bushels of soybeans were used to feed hogs that ultimately supplied pork to the export market, he said.

At an average price of $14.83 per bushel, that soybean usage added a market value of $1.33 billion. Across the entire U.S. soybean crop of 4.28 billion bushels, that additional $1.94 per bushel accounts for about $8.3 billion.

“We’ve seen high commodity prices in 2022, but we’ve also seen very high input prices across the board for crops and for livestock. And of course the real objective in agriculture is to maintain that margin,” he said.

Exports of meat helps livestock producers maintain that margin because it brings more value to the carcass. They also help maintain margins on the crop side and offset the high input costs in 2022, he said.

Corn and soybean growers support the international promotion of U.S. pork, beef and lamb by investing a portion of their checkoff dollars in market development efforts conducted by USMEF.