U.S. beef variety meat exports to Sub-Saharan Africa have surged in 2020.
Matt Copeland serves as the U.S. Meat Export Federation?s (USMEF) first-ever Africa-based representative. He says shipments through May more than doubled year-over-year in both volume (12,783 metric tons, up 123%) and value ($9.6 million, up 115%).
?In Sub-Saharan Africa, we have a lot of variety meats that come from the United States,? Copeland said. ?In South Africa, it?s a really large market of about 30,000 tons. At the moment, the U.S. in the last two years has gone from 9,000 tons to 11,000 tons. I expect with some promotions we will be able to help encourage that growth further.?
Shipments in 2020 from the U.S. have mostly been beef livers, but also include items such as kidneys and hearts. South Africa is the leading destination, but exports are also trending sharply higher to Angola, Gabon, and Ivory Coast.
Copeland says U.S. beef variety meat is gaining market share versus Australian and New Zealand product. Some of the U.S. volume is destined for further processing, but much of it is sold frozen in wholesale and retail markets.
?In the muscle cuts, Southern Africa has some really cheap beef,? Copeland said. ?How do we make sure Southern Africa is exposed to the rich, grain fed product? We?ll have to try to reach out to some of the strong brands like Famous Brands. There are a few other very key well-positioned restaurant chains that we?ll do some production with.?
While U.S. beef muscle exports to the region are currently small, Copeland sees potential for growth once the restaurant sector begins to recover from the COVID-19 related slowdown.
