2005 was a good year for U.S. lamb exports. According to the latest USDA stat...
2005 was a good year for U.S. lamb exports. According to the latest USDA statistics, U.S. lamb (including variety meat) exports soared 31 percent in volume (8,310 metric tons) and 45 percent in value ($15.44 million) in the first 11 months.
In the Caribbean, buyers are turning to U.S. lamb — the Cadillac of the lamb import industry — in increasing numbers. The latest figures show a 132 percent increase in U.S. lamb sales to the region from 330 metric tons (mt) valued at $1.32 million in Jan.-Nov., 2004 to 807 mt valued at $2.92 million in Jan.-Nov., 2005.
Most tourists in the Caribbean want a milder lamb with the kind of marbling that makes it easy to cook and juicy and tender to eat. U.S. lamb fits the bill on both counts due to the grain-fed diet, which lambs in the United States consume prior to harvest. Grain-fed U.S. lambs are generally larger and more muscular than lambs produced elsewhere in the world. This leads to muscle cuts that are also larger and milder tasting than cuts produced in other countries, providing an excellent center-of-the-plate item. As with the entire red meat sector, lamb produced in the United States is subject to one of the most rigorous inspection and food safety systems in the world. Food safety management systems in the United States are science-based and are implemented to minimize food safety risks.
U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Caribbean Consultant Liz Wunderlich works to expand the range of cuts purchased in her region, and she reports that Caribbean resort chefs are beginning to focus on cuts other than racks and legs. The U.S. industry supplies top rounds, shoulder clods, breasts and boneless sirloins, allowing the kind of choice competitors rarely match. U.S. ground lamb and lamb stew meat have also been recently sold to the region.
U.S. lamb variety meat exports to the Caribbean also increased significantly in 2005. The U.S. lamb industry exported 262 mt of lamb variety meat valued at $601,000 in the first 11 months of 2005, a 232 percent increase in volume and a 243 percent increase in value.
Exports of lamb variety meat and cuts which have little value in the U.S. add dollars to lamb producers’ bottom lines. Other than the rack and the leg, when most lamb products are exported their value is increased significantly.
A similar story can be told in Mexico, the leading buyer of U.S. lamb, where exports (including variety meat) were up 33 percent in volume (3,497 mt) and 39 percent in value ($5.52 million) in the Jan.-Nov., 2005 period.
USMEF’s prestigious annual chef contest encourages chefs to cook dishes centered around U.S. lamb as well as U.S. pork and beef. USMEF-Mexico also conducted seminars with an exclusive U.S. lamb theme not only in Mexico City and Monterrey, but also in the important resort towns Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta. USMEF emphasized U.S. lamb’s unique characteristics — its nutrition, versatility and delicious, mild taste — and helped chefs, buyers and restaurant managers to understand how it could be employed profitably.
The U.S. Meat Export Federation is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, lamb, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.
– USMEF –