Economic Indicators: December 2009
By Drovers news staff
| Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Beef’s economic indicators ended their fall decline last month, yet could not muster an overall upward arrow. Lackluster consumer demand continues to hold a lid on cash fed-cattle prices and boxed-beef prices, which keeps both packer margins and feedyard margins in the red. Three of the eight indicator arrows point sideways this month, three point higher, and two point lower, according to Drovers’ monthly analysis. Production costs declined as corn prices saw a harvest rally, and the steer-corn ratio dropped slightly to 22.66 for the month. A glimmer of hope can be found in projections from Sterling Marketing — improving packer and feeder profit margins, slightly lower cattle breakevens and an improving Sterling Profit Quotient in the months ahead.
