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China’s hog losses due to African swine fever now represent 38.7 per cent of its total hog inventory.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

China has a protein crisis

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, goes the old Scottish idiom. But you can if it is a Chinese sow. This is because African swine fever (ASF) has reduced China’s sow population by 37 per cent in just the past year. China’s hog losses due to ASF are rapidly mounting […] Read more
Live cattle futures prices plummeted in the week after Tyson plant fire.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Tyson Foods fire creates ripple effect in cattle markets

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
The North American cattle and beef industry has endured “weather” and BSE-related markets but never a “fire” market such as resulted from the fire at Tyson Foods’ Holcomb, Kansas plant on August 9. The fire took out more than 30,000 head per week of capacity for several months. The loss is most directly having an […] Read more
Adverse weather has had an impact on the U.S. fed cattle market in 2019.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Beef prices weather the weather

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
The U.S. beef market is proving to be remarkably resilient this year. Summer heat has finally given way to cooler weather. But beef demand held up remarkably well in the heat and domestic demand in July was actually better than last year. Now the market has the Labor Day holiday behind it, which usually boosts […] Read more
The U.S. meat and livestock industry has a comprehensive price reporting system that is the envy of the world.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Kay: Price reporting invaluable to livestock and meat industries

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
Good market information, particularly regarding prices, is the lifeblood of the livestock and meat industry, in which millions of dollars change hands every day of the week. “Good” information, however, must be accurate and unbiased, as comprehensive as possible, timely and easily accessible, and understood by all market participants. Today’s cattle producers throughout Canada can […] Read more
A plunging futures market in mid-May caused hedged cattle feeders to sell cattle early at lower prices for three weeks in a row.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Kay: Cattle futures crush the present

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
Futures markets perform an important role in agricultural markets by allowing producers of key commodities to construct risk management strategies to help them make money. The futures are also anticipatory markets, and these two roles sometimes make for strange bedfellows. Right now in the U.S., the futures market for feeder and live cattle are crushing […] Read more
A variety of factors produced record profits for all processors of fed cattle last year.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Beef packers enjoy purple profit patch

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
North American beef processors are enjoying an extended period of profits that is unprecedented in the industry’s history. Packers on both sides of the border are seeing margins that would have been unthinkable five years ago. U.S. packers racked up record profits in 2017, surpassed them in 2018 and are on track for more records […] Read more
Marfrig increased its presence in the United States by acquiring a majority stake in Iowa Premium Beef last March.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Brazilians increase U.S. beef industry presence

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
Brazilian beef behemoth JBS SA sent shockwaves through the U.S. beef industry nearly 12 years ago when it announced it was acquiring Swift and Company, the third-largest beef processor in the U.S. and the largest in Australia, for US$1.4 billion. Little did the industry know that Brazil’s second-largest beef company would eventually buy into the […] Read more
The quality seen in the North American beef supply continues to improve.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

North American beef quality sets industries apart

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
The Canadian and U.S. beef industries have made great strides over the past 20 years in improving the quality of the beef they produce. That is paying excellent dividends in both their domestic and export markets. While Brazil is the world’s largest beef exporter, beef from North America is sought after globally and attracts a […] Read more
Consumer demand and tariffs will be key issues for the U.S. beef industry in 2019.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

U.S. cattle prices expected to fall slightly

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
Forecasting live cattle prices is always tricky but most analysts were close to the mark at the start of last year. U.S. prices were better than expected in the first quarter but mostly followed forecasts the rest of the year. Prices this year will likely be slightly lower than the average price in 2018 of […] Read more
Beef production is expected to rise in 2019 to 27.810 billion pounds, up 3.3 per cent from 2018.
News, Prime cuts

Record protein supplies again

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
Americans will enjoy ample supplies of red meat and poultry this year. Total 2019 production is expected to reach a record 105.570 billion pounds, up 3.0 per cent on 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS). This would exceed the expected 2.4 per cent increase in 2018 from 2017. ERS […] Read more

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