It seems nothing is made in America anymore doesn’t it. I’m Susan Allen welcome to Open Range, stay tuned and take heart there are still some products we do, do best. While 2010 was a downer for most of the economic sector it was the best year we’ve ever experienced in the history of exporting  American Beef, exceeding 2009’s total by nearly $1 billion. What a recovery, thanks to Canada, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Middle East and the EU. As the world becomes more affluent so do our food preferences. For years Egypt has been our top export market for beef liver, and as has been evident in the streets of Cairo, their culture is changing. Following the trends set by Saudi Arabia and Dubai, the Egyptian palate is trending towards marbled muscle cuts, in much the same way Americans in the late 1800’s gravitated to fat laced cuts of beef mimicking the British upper crust who introduced not only the fattened cattle industry to America but our lucrative corn market. Russia also increased their demand for steaks quadrupling it by over five hundred percent. If you travel to remote Caribbean Islands you will find US beef as new export records were set not only in the islands but even deep in Central-South America. Ah but not our neighbors to the South, Mexico always a major importer of US beef was the only country we export to that showed a decline, down 15 percent in volume.