European Union: US Beef Imports into the EU Remained Subdued Throughout 2021

U.S. beef exports into the EU’s High Quality Beef (HQB) quota had a hard time in 2021 as they suffered from the repeated closures of the EU hospitality sector from COVID-19. EU imports of U.S. beef decreased substantially after the end-of-year 2020 holiday season and only gradually increased throughout 2021 again. As a result, they ended below 2020 imports, which had still benefited from the first quarter before the COVID-19 impact. As the U.S. specific HQB quota increased as planned in the new year, the quota usage ratio sank to fifty percent.