The latest Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade report issued by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service in April provides updates and forecasts of beef, pork, and chicken meat production, consumption, exports, and imports for the major countries in each market.   GLOBAL PRODUCTION SEEN UP SLIGHTLY   Global beef production was projected to increase … Read More

The difference between wholesale prices of choice and select grades of beef, known as the choice/select spread, is widening rapidly, according to USDA data compiled, graphed and published by the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver. The choice/select spread last week was listed at $20.96, up $4.24, or 25.4%. from $16.72 the previous week, up … Read More

Total red meat supplies in US freezers on March 31 were down about 1% from the previous month and down about 1% from last year, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said in a revised Cold Storage report from last week.  The updated version was released Monday. Total pounds of beef in freezers March 31 … Read More

As of Tuesday, large commodity index funds, called managed money, had extended their collective net long live cattle futures position for the fourth straight week, while hedgers built their total net short position. That conclusion came from position data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday in its weekly Commitments of Traders report.   … Read More

Households in states that were temporarily distributing extra Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits experienced lower levels of food insufficiency during most of 2022 and early 2023 than those in states distributing standard SNAP amounts, according to the Household Pulse Survey (HPS) from the US Census Bureau. March 1 marked the end of those additional … Read More

At first glance, it appears fed and feeder cattle prices have reached record highs, but on an inflation-adjusted basis, prices have yet to surpass those of 2013-2015, said Dennis Elliott, Extension livestock economist at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in a Livestock Marketing Information Center letter called In The Cattle Markets.   FOMC INFLUENCE   … Read More

Recent strains at some banks in the US and Europe are a powerful reminder of pockets of elevated financial vulnerabilities built over years of low rates, compressed volatility, and ample liquidity, said a blog by International Monetary Fund writers Antonio Garcia Pascual, Fabio Natalucci and Thomas Piontek. Such risks could intensify in coming months amid … Read More