U.S.A beef exports continue the 2016 trend with more improvement so far in 2017. In February total beef exports increased by 19.3 percent and combined with the January figures add up to a 20.1 percent year over year increase.
Japan is the top destination for U.S. beef exports, up 44.4 percent for January and February. Beef exports to Japan made up 29.9 percent of beef exports so far this year. In 2016, Japan accounted for 25.7 percent of total beef exports. South Korea is the second largest beef export market for the U.S.A, up 26.5 percent in the first two months of the year. South Korea has had a rising share of U.S. beef exports in the last four years and took 17.8 of total beef exports in 2016.