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Nationwide response to the COVID-19 pandemic continued to shake segments of the entire beef industry near the conclusion of a historic March 2020. Consumers continued to purchase food commodities off grocery shelves, while ag economists, like their counterparts on national economics, all began preparing for the reality of a recession.
The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its semiannual Cattle report on Jan. 31. The total number of cattle and calves on Jan. 1, 2020, was estimated at 94.4 million head, nearly 400,000 head lower than the previous year.
Why did April 2020 live cattle futures lose $10.675 per hundredweight (cwt) from Friday, Feb. 21 to Friday, Feb. 28? Why did it recover $3.70 per cwt over the next three trading days?
Wholesale beef prices typically increase seasonally from February into March but have showed only scant improvement from the February low three weeks ago.
All signs point to a U.S. beef cow inventory that has plateaued, said CattleFax market analyst Kevin Good at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention in San Antonio – ending one of the most aggressive herd expansions on record.
The 2019 fourth-quarter beef production forecast was adjusted higher by 15 million pounds from the previous month to 7 billion pounds, which raised the forecast for annual production to 27.2 billion pounds. The increase was based on a faster-than-expected pace of non-fed cattle slaughter in December, in particular beef cow slaughter.
The 2019 fourth-quarter beef production forecast was raised by 100 million pounds from the previous month to nearly 7 billion pounds. This raised the forecast for annual production to 27.1 billion pounds.
The 2019 beef production forecast was raised by 88 million pounds from the previous month to 27 billion pounds. The increase was based on a faster-than-expected pace of fed cattle slaughter and greater expected cow slaughter.
The 2019 beef production forecast was reduced by 5 million pounds from the previous month but remains at a rounded 26.9 billion pounds. The reduction was based on a slower-than-expected pace of fed cattle slaughter that was partially offset by greater expected cow slaughter and slightly higher expected cattle dressed weights.
Boxed beef prices increased about 10% over the month of October into early November. This increase was significantly higher than the normal seasonal bump of less than 2% from October to November.
