While many cattlemen were surprised and frustrated with market reactions after the fire, Derrell Peel says the type and duration of price behavior are exactly what is predicted by market economics.
With seven weeks passed since the fire at Tyson’s Finney County, Kan. plant, the impacts and resulting ripple effects are clearer now and are fading as expected.
The rapid growth in Chinese beef imports has dramatically altered global beef flows with several countries now exporting a significant share of total exports to China.
An early peek at winter grazing budgets highlights the huge uncertainty impacting feeder cattle markets, including grain markets and global economic turmoil.
In the cattle and beef industry, widely varying seasonal price patterns exist for all classes of cattle as well as for each of the many beef products produced in the industry.
China is the major global buyer of cattle hides and demand in China is hampered by tariffs and trade disruptions and by stronger environmental regulations impacting small tanneries.
USDA’s mid-year inventory totals suggest that the U.S. cattle herd has reached a plateau. I contrast a plateau with a more typical cyclical peak inventory that historically has implied a liquidation phase to follow.
