For the third consecutive year, Mexico led all markets in volume and value for U.S. beef and beef variety meats in 2006, says the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Meanwhile, overall exports of U.S. beef and beef variety meats worldwide increased 39% in volume to 655,920 metric tons and 50% in value to $2.04 billion in 2006 compared to 2005. This was despite no market access to Korea, and limited access to Japan. For a breakdown of export statistics by market, go to: usmef.org/TradeLibrary/files/06_12_BVMPlus.pdf.