John Nalivka

John Nalivka is the president of Sterling Marketing, Inc., which provides economic research and market advisory services to the livestock and meat industries. He became affiliated with Sterling in 1991 as executive vice president and he has owned the company since 1994. Nalivka serves clients across the red meat supply chain from producers to end-users.

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The economic environment of both the beef and pork industries has changed. Capacity utilization for both beef and pork has a significant impact on margins and the market impact goes beyond supply and demand.
Ranchers should be concerned about policies that infringe on public land grazing and limit use of a valuable resource in the name of climate change.
The beef market has become increasingly dependent on consumer demand – consumers who are both willing and able to continue purchasing beef at higher prices.
The demand side of the equation has become increasingly crucial to the market’s performance as the per capita beef supply will decline in response to tighter cattle numbers.
Economics and the impact on weights – both longer-term and decisions based on short term factors will play an important part in determining beef production in 2024.
Activists will intensify their calls to end grazing and beef production over the next several years as climate change and carbon emissions become the priority as opposed to just protecting the environment.
While tighter cattle numbers and further declines in beef production will support higher prices, demand will increasingly become the critical market driver in 2024.
Capturing true value discovery of feeder cattle through genetic merit could become a watershed moment for the U.S. beef industry.
USDA’s recent October 1, 2023, Cattle on Feed report offered a few surprising numbers. How does that report square up with previously released USDA data?
Prices across the entire beef complex have reached record levels. Demand remains the key variable, and now may be the time to measure demand through the value of the various cuts of the carcass.