Through October 2017, Nebraska exported more than half of the total share of U.S. beef to China, according to data recently released from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Nebraska’s beef exports to China were $8.7 million, a 50.5% share of the U.S. total of $17.2 million.

“Growing agriculture through trade continues to be a top priority for my administration,” said Neb. Governor Pete Ricketts. “For years, Nebraskans have been working together with federal officials to reopen the Chinese beef market, and my administration continued that work with visits to China in 2015 and 2016. When China agreed for the first time since 2003 to open its beef market to the United States, Nebraska was ready and shipped the first beef to China within days of the announcement.”

According to Ricketts, Nebraska had a similar opportunity in September to maintain and build trade relations with Japan. Nebraska’s beef exports to Japan are up 18% from 2016 over the same time period. With beef exports to Japan of $309.9 million for the first ten months of 2017, Nebraska is on track to have the largest year of beef exports to Japan since the country reopened its market to U.S. beef.