Live cattle prices are working lower, an event Andrew Griffith, agricultural economist at the University of Tennessee calls “the summer wall.” Griffith added in a weekly comment that prices are hitting this wall hard as feedlots pull cattle forward at a time when cash cattle prices struggle seasonally.  Fed cattle are coming to market in … Read More

World markets continue to spin with the what-ifs of the unexpected Brexit vote in Britain on Thursday. That is mostly because no one has any idea of where this will go and what an EU minus the UK will look like, nor do they have any idea of how many more countries will divorce themselves … Read More

The difference between choice and select wholesale beef prices is narrowing as quickly as it widened, accelerating a seasonal decline, as the percentage of choice carcasses to select remains historically high. Last week, the choice/select spread was reported by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service at $18.40 per cwt, down $4.59, or 20.0%, from $22.99 the previous … Read More

Cattle and beef markets likely will consider the Cattle-On-Feed report as only slightly bearish to neutral, but there still is reason to worry about meat supplies. The major meats of beef and pork in cold storage showed declines from April, but this is normal.  Total red meats on ice also showed a seasonal tendency to … Read More

A soaring US dollar in the wake of Thursday’s vote by British citizens to secede from the European Union will hamper US export efforts, which could be bad to very bad for the US economy as a whole. It all will depend on how long the greenback remains elevated in relation to other world currencies. … Read More

Many cattle and beef market analysts feel that beef’s main competitor at the retail level is chicken, not pork.  Thus, it pays to pay attention to what poultry companies, called integrators, are doing. The statistics most used by market analysts are contained in the USDA’s monthly Chicken and Eggs report, which was released Tuesday.  Broiler … Read More

Average retail beef prices in May were down, pressuring fed cattle prices, and the outlook for a reversal of this trend looks bleak without a major demand driver. The average price for all fresh beef in grocery stores during May was $5.838 a pound, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics and the USDA’s Economic Research … Read More