Pressured by the declining buying power of consumers struggling to make ends meet amid higher inflation rates, the wholesale price of boxed beef has sunk below last year and the 2016-2020 average, even as total herd numbers decline. What’s more, price prospects for beef from here on out fall well below levels at this time … Read More

The USDA’s Crop Production report last week showed that US stocks of hay continued to shrink in the latest crop year, making two straight years of decline and pointing to higher prices in the new crop year. May 1 stocks were down about 1.2 million short tons, or 7%, to 16.7 million tons from a … Read More

Farmland values in the Federal Reserve’s Tenth District continued to increase at a rapid pace through 2021, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank Economists Nate Kauffman and Ty Kreitman said last week in a report. Alongside sustained strength in farm income and credit conditions, the value of all types of farmland was more than 20% higher … Read More

Large commodity index funds, known as managed money, cut their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday as hedgers slashed their total net short position. The information came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Commitments of Traders report Friday, showing that investors were getting out of live cattle futures as … Read More

US 2022 red meat and poultry production forecasts from the USDA Thursday were raised from last month in the monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report. Higher 2022 beef and broiler production expectations more than offset a supposed reduction in pork and turkey production, the report said. Total US red meat and poultry production … Read More

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought on a new set of economic conditions that are reshaping financial and commodity markets, said economists and market analysts of CoBank in a white paper. For the rest of 2022, global growth will be slower, and most commodity prices higher than previously expected, the white paper said.  Key … Read More

US beef exports soared to another new value record in March, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the US Meat Export Federation. A USMEF release also said March pork exports were the largest so far this year but well below the record-large totals posted in March 2021.   BEEF EXPORTS UP SHARPLY … Read More