The US Economic Research Service predicts beef and veal prices will decrease 1.0% to 2.0% this year but rise 1% to 2% in 2018, but sees cattle prices struggling. The ERS made the prediction in its latest Consumer Price Index report under the breakdown called “Food Price Outlook, 2017-18.”  It went on to say that … Read More

Strong demand is mostly offsetting increased beef supply this year and has a good chance of mitigating next year’s expected production increases, said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University extension livestock marketing specialist, in the “Cow/Calf Corner,” an OSU Extension newsletter. The September USDA Cattle on Feed report pegged Sep. 1 feedlot inventory at 10.504 million … Read More

The amount of beef in US freezers rose counter-seasonally last month, but many might not see it since it closely matches the amount in cold storage a year earlier. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said Friday in its monthly Cold Storage report that the US had 476.260 million pounds of beef on ice, almost … Read More

After several years of declining prices for many agricultural commodities, the outlook now is more nuanced, said a report from the University of Missouri’s Food & Agricultural Policy Research Institute called “Baseline Updates for US Agricultural Markets.”  This is a summary of the report. The report provides an update of the 2017 FAPRI-MU long-term baseline … Read More

Weekly beef cow slaughter rates have been above last year in all but two weeks this year, signaling that cattle herd growth may have come to an end. Data compiled from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service and the Agricultural Marketing Service show that the only weeks in which beef cow slaughter did not exceed … Read More

US pork imports were only 0.6% below last year in the January-July period, according to the USDA’s Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook report Monday.  Canada has been the primary supplier. US pork exports slowed in July, mostly because of slower exports to China, whose pork sector was rebounding from recent downsizing.   MORE SLAUGHTER CAPACITY … Read More

US beef imports were mostly lower for the January-July period this year, compared with the same period in 2016, said the USDA’s Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook report Monday. January-July beef imports were 4.3% below a year earlier, largely because of increased domestic production and lower production in Oceania, the Outlook report said.   PRODUCTION … Read More