Mexican beef market impacts on US beef industry

The Mexican beef cattle industry has been severely impacted by the drought the past two years, much as the U.S. has been impacted. Additionally, changes in Mexican domestic beef consumption and beef trade have significant implications for the interaction of the Mexican and U.S. cattle and beef industries in the coming years.

Mexico emerged as a major customer for U.S. beef in 1997, replacing Canada as the second place export destination behind Japan. Mexico remained the number two market until 2004 when it became the number one export market for U.S beef following the first BSE case in the U.S. Mexico remained the top beef export market until 2011 when it dropped to number two behind Canada.