Come to think of it maybe selling beef to China is why domestic beef prices have gone through the roof in the past several years.
$12-14/lb. ribeye and NY strip, for choice-cut here. Sale price as a loss leader is $6.99.
They all went up a few years ago because of the drought and the big feeder lots sold off. Then, they had to go to buying bull dairy feeders to supplement since they sold off a whole lot their stock. The prices went up and they could never catch up with supply. And the asian market bought like hell at that time.
I was told, that dairy bull calves were bringing in over 300 bucks a head for a while and some dairy farmers were breeding their cows to throw beef calves.