Meat Exports Produce Long-Term Demand for Nebraska Soybean Farmers

While global trade issues have created uncertainty in recent weeks, global demand for U.S. red meat remains strong. In 2024, U.S. pork exports eclipsed previous highs in volume and value, and despite an uncertain trade environment in 2025, pork exports have dipped only slightly through April.

Export market diversification has been a key goal for the U.S. pork industry and broad-based market development growth is helping sustain long-term growth (see chart below). In 2024, pork exports achieved annual volume and value records in Mexico, Central America, Colombia, New Zealand, Malaysia and several Caribbean markets. Value records were reached in South Korea, Australia and the Dominican Republic.

“Livestock is the number one customer for Nebraska-grown soybeans and recent years have been record-setting for exports of U.S. red meat,” says John Hinners, senior vice president of industry relations for the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). “Exports now account for nearly 30% of pork production and a robust pork industry provides critical support to the bottom lines of soybean producers.”

Hinners points to a recent study that quantifies the impact of pork exports on Nebraska soybean production. In 2024, according to statistics provided by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service and data compiled by The Juday Group:

• Pork exports accounted for 6.95 million bushels of Nebraska soybean usage in 2024.

• In 2024, the market value of pork exports to Nebraska soybeans = $77.25 million (soybeans consumed by pork exports at average soybean price: 6.95 million bushels x $11.11 per bushel).

“The global population is growing and middle classes are expanding, but it's the growth in spending power that motivates consumers to upgrade their protein options,” says Hinners.

Colombia is a prime example. U.S. pork exports to Colombia have grown from 34,000 metric tons valued at $88 million in 2013 to 124,971 metric tons worth $360 million in 2024. Colombia has rapidly evolved from being primarily a destination for pork raw material for further processing into a well-rounded market for center-of-the-plate U.S. pork items.

With a focus on the center-of-the-plate, USMEF recently developed eight new pork products derived from the U.S. Boston butt and introduced them to the trade and consumers at a launch event in late 2024. Several of the products are now being sold in Colombia with one product—the Boston butt burger, or “BBB”—having generated a great deal of interest. The BBB is now being sold at several foodservice and retail chains throughout the country.