Screwworm cases in Texas and New Mexico halt US-Mexico live-animal trade
The first New World screwworm cases in the US since 1966, found in Texas and New Mexico, pushed Mexico's Sader and the USDA to suspend trade in live animals. With US beef output falling for over three years, Mexican boxed-beef exports to the US rose 23.6% to 97,873 tonnes in the first four months.
Screwworm detection halts live-animal trade
The meat trade between Mexico and the United States is entering a new phase of reconfiguration after the first New World screwworm cases were detected on US soil, in Texas and New Mexico, according to El Financiero. On June 3, the United States confirmed its first case in a calf in New Mexico, even though the pest had been eradicated in the country since 1966.
Following additional cases in Texas, Mexico's Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) agreed to temporarily suspend imports of live animals from the United States into Mexico.
A second shock in twelve months
The outbreak lands barely a year after Mexico faced the second suspension of its live cattle exports to its main trading partner, which caused losses of more than 1,850 million dollars for Mexican producers. The new disruption coincides with a historic deficit in the US cattle inventory, which is boosting Mexican exports of value-added cuts.
US beef shortage pulls in Mexican cuts
US beef production has been declining for more than three years while pork and poultry recover, said Ernesto Salazar, economic studies manager at the Mexican Meat Council (Comecarne). He said US consumers concentrate on higher-priced proteins, and when supply is restricted, they migrate to other links in the animal-protein chain. Despite being a leading beef producer, the United States cannot meet its own internal demand.
- Beef sales to the US totaled 97,873 tonnes in the first four months of the year, up 23.6% year-on-year; Mexico traded 79,183 tonnes.
- Nine of every ten tonnes of beef Mexico exports go to the United States.
- The US cattle deficit combined an extended reproductive cycle with the screwworm crisis, which blocked the entry of 1.8 million head, said Gerardo Rodríguez of the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF).
- Mexican cattle represent roughly 15% to 20% of total US production.
The gap is an opening for exporters such as SuKarne, which sends 80% of its exports to the United States, said business development director Efraín Reséndiz, who pointed to room to grow with higher value-added products. US consumers prefer premium cuts such as filete, rib eye, sirloin, New York and t-bone, while Mexico imports pulpas, bistec, milanesa and arrachera.
Pork gains a parallel opening
The USMEF is working to lift US pork consumption in Mexico, moving it beyond a raw material for sausages and hams toward retail cuts, said Gerardo Rodríguez. Mexican pork imports reached 589,520 tonnes between January and April, up 4.1% year-on-year, according to Comecarne.
