COLUMBIA, Mo. — The cost of a barbecue increased this summer, as Americans showed willingness to pay record prices for beef, pork and chicken for the grill.

Another demand factor is also feeding into strong meat prices: Exports.

Strong international demand for U.S. meat persists. "The sum of U.S. beef, pork and chicken exports has remained remarkably stable in recent years despite sharply higher prices," said Scott Brown and Daniel Madison, with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri.

FAPRI projects U.S. beef exports to remain about the same in 2014 and 2015, just over 2.5 billion pounds. Broiler exports will rise from 7.22 billion pounds this year to 7.4 billion in 2015.

Pork exports will increase from about 5.1 billion pounds this year to 5.24 billion in 2015, according to FAPRI. Pork set records for both value and volume of exports through June, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). Shipments to Mexico and South Korea, the second- and fourth-largest U.S. pork importers respectively, are up 23 percent.

The USMEF points to Central and South America as important growth markets for U.S. pork exports; theirs increased 12 percent this year over 2013.

Russia is a volatile market for U.S. pork. Pork shipments to Russia were only 17 million pounds in 2012-13. This March, U.S. pork regained access to Russia, shipping 48 million pounds there until August, when Russian trade sanctions halted meat shipments from the United States. Russia’s ban "is certainly not a positive for export projections, but is not expected to have large detrimental effects on total export levels," according to FAPRI’s Brown and Madison.

The Russian ban on food from the United States and other countries is felt more in the poultry sector. Russia accounted for 7.5 percent of U.S. broiler exports in 2013, the second-largest destination after Mexico (21.2 percent). But before Russia’s trade ban, U.S. broiler shipments were already more than 270 million pounds – nearly reaching 2013 levels of 306 million.

Other countries, especially Mexico, are expected to absorb any volume that might have yet been shipped to Russia.

Slower-than-expected expansion in the U.S. broiler sector has kept frozen chicken supplies from flooding world markets. The USDA forecasts 7.219 billion pounds of broiler exports for 2014, only a 137-million pound decrease from July’s forecast.

This year’s beef export volume trails the 2011 record, but beef export value is higher than ever at $299.14 per head in June, up $38.93 from 2013.

"Just four years ago, export value was about $150 per head and we broke $200 per head for the first time in 2011," said Philip Seng, USMEF president and CEO. "This shows just how important the international markets are for delivering strong returns to the producer."

Japan is still the prime destination for U.S. beef, receiving 304 million pounds through June. That volume is down slightly from 2013, but higher prices kept total value up. Japanese import data show U.S. beef continues to gain market share there, according to the USMEF. Beef exports are also increasing to Hong Kong, Korea and Mexico this year.

The FAPRI baseline update for livestock and dairy markets is available at www.amap.missouri.edu.