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Economists often say that market prices are determined by demand and supply. What they really mean is more correctly stated as “market prices are determined by expectations of demand and supply.” Under more stable and normal circumstances, this distinction is not particularly significant.
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-FSIS recently announced that Brazilian fresh beef would soon be allowed back into the U.S.
Brazilian beef exports were banned back in 2017 due to recurring concerns about public health issues, sanitary conditions and animal health issues.
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?
The cattle and beef industry, along with the rest of the U.S. and global economy, is in uncharted waters with the coronavirus pandemic. There are many unknowns about the timing, severity and aftermath of the disease.
Wholesale beef prices typically increase seasonally from February into March but have showed only scant improvement from the February low three weeks ago.
“Early retirement,” Bas Froese-Kooijenga says with a laugh when asked what he hopes the Sunnyside Creamery he owns with his wife, Martha, will accomplish.
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 U.S. beef herd size periodically cycles through expansion and contraction, with about a 10-year cycle. This cycle is largely due to the time it takes to build because of cattle biology.
