Packer
This week should show us how willing the packers are to pull May contracts.
Bill Bullard joins AgriTalk to discuss R-CALF USA’s lawsuit, alleging that beef packers Tyson, Cargill, JBS and National Beef, had engaged in collusion to unlawfully depress prices paid to U.S. cattle producers.
Bill Bullard joins AgriTalk to discuss R-CALF USA’s lawsuit, alleging that beef packers Tyson, Cargill, JBS and National Beef, had engaged in collusion to unlawfully depress prices paid to U.S. cattle producers.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has filed another recall because of E. coli for more than 53,000 lb. of ground beef just one day after a separate recall for nearly 57 tons.
The University of Idaho will build a new meat science and innovation center on its Moscow campus.
On Nov. 9, more than 200 local meat and poultry processors in Iowa were awarded Meat Processing and Expansion Grants from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
Brazil’s Batista brothers may soon be back in court after shareholders of JBS S.A. voted in favor of suing the pair for losses incurred after they confessed to bribing thousands of Brazilian public officials.
Continued support from the board could yield higher cash prices for most producers. Packers need for higher grading cattle could also help push prices higher in the weeks to come.
Beef packers could be moving into a period with smaller inventories, which may prompt them to push prices higher. CME futures prices will again have an impact on the cash trade.
The early trade released any pressure on packers to acquire available inventory and made it easier for them to achieve their buy. The majority of the cash trade in the South was from two packers.
Wisconsin beef processor Strauss Brands is seeking approval to build a new 152,000 square-foot packing facility that will process between 250 and 500 head per day.
Cash cattle trading started early last week as cattle feeders in Texas began on Monday by accepting cash bids a dollar lower.
Cattle feeders are anticipating that the current run up in the cash market may have hit the peak and could plateau before long.
Negotiated cash cattle prices pushed higher again for the sixth consecutive week as feedyards have gained some market leverage with declining supplies.
Cattle feeders saw continued higher prices in the cash market last week with cattle in the South trading at $99 to $100, with the majority of the cattle going at the higher end.
The Fed Cattle Exchange, the only weekly fed cattle online auction for the cattle industry, has been acquired by Central Stockyards, LLC from 5150 Productions Company, LLC.
Since the week of May 16 when the beef cutout hit record highs, the price has fallen 56%. Simultaneously, weekly beef production has increased 29% and carcass weights are averaging 37 pounds more than last year.
Boxed beef prices have dropped to their lowest level since 2017, and beef production will continue at a pace above last year with carcass weights up 35 pounds year-over-year.
Cattle feeders in the South were able to keep the market mostly steady to higher for the week. Most cash trades were $95-$96 with producers finding themselves in a position to pass on lower bids for front end cattle.
Ag economist Derrell Peel says past events provide a case study to current market conditions and give a clue into the way markets respond to disasters.
Cattle feeders knew selling ahead of a short holiday week would create additional challenges for cash cattle prices and the ability to move cattle. Unfortunately, trade volumes met low expectations.
The downward spiral in the cash cattle trade is ongoing as the number of market-ready cattle continues to grow. Showlists are already overburdened to date, and market-ready cattle add to the list weekly.
Cargill launches the Cargill Cares Employee Disaster Relief Fund to support employees around the world during times of catastrophic or personal disaster.
U.S. cattle slaughter was up an estimated 25% over the previous holiday-shortened week as beef packers gradually return to near-normal capacity utilization.
Cash cattle prices traded higher last week, and for the first time in several weeks most of the major beef packing plants should be up and running this week, though not full-throttle.
The South Dakota Farmers Union is seeking investors to help purchase the DemKota Ranch Beef packing plant in Aberdeen, S.D., which has capacity to harvest 1,200 fed cattle per day.
Some operational changes made by the packing and processing centers are likely to remain after the COVID-19 pandemic is over, leaving some higher costs in the supply-chain.
The cattle industry sees a glimmer of hope in last week’s harvest data, with estimated slaughter at 452,000 head, down 32.2 percent year-over-year, but up 6.4 percent from the prior week.
The closure of 90% of American meat plants over the last 50 years isn’t due to a lack of knowledge or a failure to reinvest in facilities – it’s due to decades of lax antitrust enforcement, says Joaquin Contente.
The loss of the food service demand caused beef middle meats to drop to their lowest price in a decade. Conversely, the carcass cutout value has increased, driving a wider spread between live cattle and carcass values.