Supply Chain Research

The European Union will allocate 35,000 tons out of its 45,000 ton annual import quota for hormone-free beef to the U.S. That’s an encouraging sign of improving trade relations between the two and settles a long-running WTO controversy. The deal is small in context at just 3.5% of U.S. annual beef exports and will be phased in over several years. However, it comes at an important time for U.S. ranchers as U.S. exports of beef fell 4.6% year over year in the first four months of 2019 due to lower shipments to China and Japan. The downturn has been felt most keenly by Swift Foods which saw...