WASHINGTON — In mid-May, beef producer and chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, Brett Morris, took part in a beef industry trade visit that traveled to Japan and South Korea. While there, he learned about the market conditions in the two highest-value destinations for U.S. beef exports. Morris – a dairy, cow-calf and stocker operator from Oklahoma – also took part in promotional activities, and met with key international customers and industry contacts. First, his observations from Japan:
Click here to download the audio file. (0:00 – 0:08) Morris 1: “The Japanese do crave U.S. beef, although they do prepare it and cook it a little bit different than we do in the United States.”
Click here to download the audio file. (0:00 – 0:14) Morris 2: “They also use offal meats and other variety meats that normally we wouldn’t use in the United States, which is a great market for us to go to Japan with because there is a great demand for it there.”
Morris speaks about the growth potential in both of these key markets:
Click here to download the audio file. (0:00 – 0:13) Morris 3: “There is a lot of growth in these markets’ potential for the years to come. Even though we have been informed that they may be a shrinking population, there are others ways they would like to use us in the population they’ve got.”
Morris leaves us with a closing comment he wants to share with U.S. cattle producers and checkoff investors.
Click here to download the audio file. (0:00 – 0:38) Morris 4: “Our investment, I would like to tell our producers at home that I think this is a great investment for several reasons: because we know we can move the product here, they love the product . And one of the factors too is we can deliver so much more money through government programs, and also other checkoff programs that we have established there in the United States. And, I’ve always heard of this market that we have over here, and you know you’ve got a vision of it but you really don’t experience it until you’re here and it’s a very eye-opening experience. I just wish all producers back in the United States had the opportunity to come over here and see firsthand how well our checkoff dollars work.”
For more information about your beef checkoff investment, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.
—Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion & Research Board
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