An improving economy over the past 10 years has boosted per capita income 376...

An improving economy over the past 10 years has boosted per capita income 376 percent in Guatemala. With more money to spend coupled with positive consumer perception toward U.S. beef, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) says there’s a lot to like about Guatemala.

With a population over 11 million, Guatemala is the largest country in Central America. And as standard of living increases, foodservice and tourism expand to create new opportunities for niche markets.

U.S. beef is finding its niche in five-star restaurants and select retail stores. Guatemalans prefer beef over pork and in the past consumers held a general belief that local products were superior to imports. However, the more consumers try U.S. beef, the more they want to eat U.S. beef.

A reason for this is cattle in Central America are grass fed and normally slaughtered at older ages, which produces beef products with differences in taste, tenderness and consistency from the young, grain-fed beef produced by the United States. Grain-fed beef has a higher degree of marbling that creates juiciness and tenderness normally found in U.S. beef, but absent from grass-fed beef.

“We are seeing opportunities in the fine-dining restaurant industry where increases in tourism have expanded demand for high-quality U.S. beef,” said Ricardo Vernazza-Paganini, USMEF Director, Central and South America. “Income from tourism in Guatemala has doubled in the past 10 years while foodservice industry annual growth for the past six years is averaging 14 percent.”

Also, as income levels rise, more consumers are able to purchase prime U.S. beef cuts. Approximately 10 percent of monthly beef sales at PriceSmart retail chain are from the United States and consist of rib-eyes, strip steaks, top sirloin, outside skirt and hamburgers.

Importers are willing to develop marketing programs to introduce new beef value cuts, Vernazza-Paganini said. This creates a need, which USMEF can fill, to educate the foodservice industry about the higher quality of U.S. beef. Another strategy Vernazza-Paganini suggests is to position U.S. high-quality cuts as different products with potentially different names to gain brand recognition and separate U.S. beef from the rest.

U.S. beef exports, excluding variety meat, to Guatemala in the first four months of this year are up 206 percent in volume and 27 percent in value. USMEF has worked with importers and retail stores to conduct marketing programs to merchandise U.S. beef.

The United States’ discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in an imported dairy cow in December 2003 closed the U.S. beef market in Guatemala temporarily, but it then reopened less than a year later to boneless and bone-in U.S. beef.

Currently, U.S. beef can be up to 200 percent more than domestic cuts due to higher production costs and import tariffs, but if the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is passed by Congress, it would immediately eliminate tariffs on U.S. prime and choice cuts and reduce tariffs on other U.S. beef products over a 15-year period.

“U.S. beef will always cost more than regional beef due to higher production costs, but the result is U.S. beef’s competitive advantage: superior quality, taste and tenderness,” Vernazza-Paganini said.

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, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –