Would India's Possible Ban on Bovine Slaughter Benefit US Beef Exports?

Although last week a court postponed any action for four weeks, the government's national wide ban on the sale for slaughter of bovine animals, including cattle, buffalos and camels in India — no one knows for sure what will happen moving forward. How would a ban on India's bovine slaughter affect global beef trade?

U.S. Meat Export Federation Vice President of Communications Joe Schuele

Schuele: "Well, India does export a large volume of bovine meat — whether it is beef, buffalo meat however you want to categorize it — they are a large exporter of that product. It does not compete head-to-head with U.S. beef in terms of price or quality but we certainly monitoring it because it is a large scale protein so it has a large impact in especially markets like the Middle East and Southeast Asia. If India were to stop exporting — if the ban stays in place and they can no longer export that product — then you'd probably see an increase in demand for lower priced beef from places like Brazil and Paraguay, more so than you'd see an impact or U.S. Beef. But there could be a up trickle effect, if you will, once buyers would start pulling more of that product from South American suppliers or from other supplies you might see some impact that could indirectly lead for greater demand for U.S. beef — but it is not a product that we compete head-to-head with."