Expect Significant Impact on Pork and Beef Industries if East and Gulf Ports Strike

Longshoremen at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts are set to strike when their current labor contract expires at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1. The strike will impose a significant economic impact on the U.S. meat and livestock industries, according to U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Vice President for Economic Analysis Erin Borror. “These East Coast and Gulf ports have accounted directly for nearly $3 billion worth of U.S. red meat exports in the first seven months of the year. And so that equates to roughly $100 million or more worth of red meat exports per week going out of these ports,” Borror explains in the USMEF Audio Report. “And as we learned from the COVID shipping issues, when there is one disruption in the shipping or in the supply chain, there are ripple or domino effects.” The labor contract between the International Longshoremen’s Association union representing 45,000 port workers and the United States Maritime Alliance employer group expires late Monday, with negotiatio