U.S. beef exports have been robust thus far in 2022, with sales tracking 35% higher than in 2021.

January through May exports were valued at $5.1 billion, compared to $3.8 billion during the same period in 2021.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has been trying to capitalize on strong foreign demand for U.S. beef, said Kent Bacus, NCBA senior director of international trade and market access.

“When you see tight global supplies, you see opportunities for exports,” he said, speaking from NCBA’s Summer Business Meeting in Reno, Nev.

“We’re able to capitalize on that demand, especially countries like Japan, Korea, China, because we have good trade policies in place that give us access there,” he said.

NCBA has been trying to implement the terms of access into those countries but is also looking forward to being able to engage in new opportunities, he said.

The Biden administration is not as eager as previous administrations to talk about removing tariffs, but it is looking to engage in on some of the non-tariff issues. So NCBA will be looking for opportunities to remove more non-tariff barriers to capitalize even more on the strong global demand for U.S. beef, he said.

The Biden administration has also “kind of walked back” trade negotiations with the United Kingdom, he said.

“We think that there’s still a lot of need and a lot of interest on both sides of the pond to engage in those discussions. So we’re taking the opportunity to reach out and find like-minded interests in the UK and to really educate them about our industry…,” he said.

Turning to Southeast Asia, he said there’s a tremendous amount of growth in potential protein exports there.

“We see a lot of opportunity, but we still have a lot of barriers in countries like Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.

NCBA is continuing to look for different trade policies that will help open those markets, he said.

Animal health issues, such as foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever, make it hard for a lot of those countries to supply enough domestically produced protein to feed their growing consumer base, he said.

“This creates a great opportunity for U.S. producers, and so we really want to use trade policy to try to capitalize on that growth and to maximize our presence in those markets,” he said.

Trade agreements aren’t about immediate gains; they’re about long-term advantages, he said. This year marks the 10th anniversary of U.S. trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama, and a lot has changed over the years, he said.

“In each of those countries, we faced massively high tariffs and had very restricted sales, and now we’re a growing source in a lot of those places,” he said.

In Korea, U.S. beef faced a 40% tariff and a lot of non-tariff barriers. But trade agreements help remove those barriers, and the U.S. is now the dominant import source there, he said.

“We’ve seen a tremendous increase in our sales. … you can go country by country with Korea, Japan, China, these trade agreements are what have really opened up opportunities,” he said.

“That delivers value back to producers … we’re looking at around $500 per head (of U.S. fed cattle slaughter) just in value attributed to exports,” he said.