Bolivian Market Now Open to U.S. Red Meat

Jun 22, 2020

According to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service’s new Export Library entry for Bolivia, U.S. meat and meat products produced in the U.S. are eligible, along with casings derived from livestock slaughtered under inspection in the United States.

All federally inspected plants are eligible for export, but USMEF is seeking information on the specific company and product registration details for Bolivia.

Last year Bolivia reported beef imports of 1,831 metric tons (mt), mainly from Brazil along with small volumes from Argentina. Imports were valued at $2.6 million. Pork imports, which were almost entirely from Brazil, totaled 443 mt valued at about $1 million.

Bolivia’s imports of sausages, which are mainly from Brazil, totaled more than 5,000 mt in 2016 (valued at $5.7 million, suggesting low-cost poultry sausages might account for most of the trade) but were reported at just 446 mt last year, valued at $474,000. Bolivia also imports prepared beef products from Brazil (1,422 mt in 2019, valued at $1.7 million) and small volumes of prepared pork products.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.