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The latest beef and cattle trade data shows a mixed bag of global market impacts. Total beef exports were down 5.3 percent in April compared to last year.
The key comparative advantages currently enjoyed by North America’s integrated industry include a strong trust and premium being placed on their grain-finished beef.
Beef demand unlikely to slip, but weights could fall amid heat.
Most folks in agriculture prefer American-made products, though most of us wear, own or perhaps drive some imports.
Job growth has continued to drop the past few months, a sign that consumer beef demand could be in trouble.
Just 8% of U.S. pastures are in poor to very poor condition, according to USDA. It is a 2% improvement from last year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed that the first shipment of U.S. beef recently arrived in South Africa following the reopening of the South African market earlier this year.
Market ready cattle prices were spurred by a relatively strong futures market and a strengthening in wholesale beef prices.
The Choice cutout was $212.05 down $0.45 from Thursday and down $8.45 from last Friday, while fed cattle trade was $2 to $3 lower than a week ago on a live basis.
Foreign demand for U.S. beef was down 13.2% in 2015 and has been down in two of the first three months of 2016.
The recent price pressure is not necessarily a bad thing as it may benefit packers and feedlots alike down the road.
In a high or low cattle market environment, capturing the most pounds per calf affects a producer’s bottom line, said a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist.
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Producers are going to have to be a little more savvy in marketing calves and feeder cattle since forward pricing opportunities appear limited.
Mexico is watching out for the banned steroid clenbuterol — on the dinner plates of its athletes.
More beef and lower prices should be positive for U.S. international trade.
There was little change in finished cattle prices this week which likely has feedlot managers sweating bullets.
“Too big, too fat, too inconsistent,” is how Hop Dickinson, former CEO of the American Hereford Association, described cattle in the 1990s.
Chain is looking at burger concept as possible ‘growth seed’
Downward slide in prices expected to ease, but still trending lower.
“On Twitter, our following is a young, urban, millennial guy making Hamburger Helper in his dorm room.”
There were 491 million pounds of beef in cold storage at the end of February.
For the second week in a row, cattle and beef prices are sharply lower.
Consumers are using their leftover gasoline money at the grocery counter, says Matt Bennett, Bennett Consulting.
A K-State agricultural economist explains some of the reasons for current market trends.
The average retail price of choice beef during February was $5.986 per pound.
The calf market continued to strengthen this week as the demand for lightweight calves intensified.
