For years Egypt has been the number two destination for our beef ?variety cuts.? They have been second only to Mexico in this market. They have also been the number one destination for U.S. beef liver exports. Some changes are coming for beef imports into the African country. What will this mean for U.S. beef exports?
The Egyptians take about 54,000 metric tons of U.S. beef liver or about 65% of all beef liver exports. This is down from about 82% in 2015. According to Paul Clayton of the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF), we now face an obstacle in the Egyptian marketplace. The Egyptians require their products to be halal-certified. This means the products go under a procedure by a third-party religious group and certified to be compliant with Islamic religious requirements. Much in the same way some foods need to be certified kosher for members of the Jewish faith.
As Clayton says, it isn?t the procedure which is causing the hurdle for our products, it is the reduction in the number of facilities that can perform these inspections.
Clayton says so far there hasn?t been a lot of disruption but there is a growing concern among exporters. He says USMEF is working with the United States and Egyptian governments to find viable solutions.
Clayton says this situation will not cause any severe drops in our exports of beef livers. Since Egyptian consumption of U.S. beef livers had already declined, USMEF has found other markets to grow in Africa and South America.
