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Photo: Canada Beef Inc.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Beef plant essentials

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
It is never easy to build a new beef processing plant, let alone operate it successfully. Just ask the group of cattle industry investors who sunk $40 million into a brand new plant near Balzac in Alberta. The plant opened to great fanfare in 2006 but closed just 14 months later because of tight margins […] Read more
A beef-industry worker grades a carcass. Canada and the U.S. produce the highest-quality beef in the world and more than any other nation.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

North America’s high-quality beef

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
The Canadian and U.S. beef industries have much in common. In fact, their markets for both cattle and beef are more highly integrated than anywhere else in the world. They have another thing in common that no other beef-producing country has. They produce the highest-quality beef in the world and more than any other nation.  […] Read more
cattleman on a horse
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Cattle producers put their money…

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
Beef producers have complained for years about how a few large companies dominate beef processing and how much money they make. That domination is nothing new. It goes back a century or more. But despite what some people think, it has not prevented a small but constant stream of new entrants into the sector. As […] Read more
U.S. packers saw record operating margins throughout last year, but cattle feeders and producers saw slim or even negative returns.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Hopes for a more normal year in the cattle industry

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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The North American beef industry started 2021 with cautious optimism of a return to normalized markets and pricing patterns. The industry especially hopes that even if the COVID-19 pandemic continues well into the year, markets will avoid the kind of extreme volatility seen last year. U.S. packers saw record operating margins throughout last year. But […] Read more
Meat industry triumphs over COVID-19
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Meat industry triumphs over COVID-19

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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The North American meat and poultry industry faced unprecedented challenges when the COVID-19 pandemic began to wreak havoc throughout the continent last spring. The many ways the industry tackled these challenges and returned to a semblance of normalcy in such a short time is one of the greatest stories in the long history of the […] Read more
Processing capacity is not the issue
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Processing capacity is not the issue

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
Beef processing capacity and plant capacity utilization are two different subjects. So I have been fascinated in recent months how some in the U.S. beef industry have equated the two. Their argument is that temporary plant closures and slowdowns in April and early May revealed that the industry needs a lot more capacity, mostly through […] Read more
Cattle markets remain in recovery mode
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Cattle markets remain in recovery mode

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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The market for fed cattle in the U.S. is now out of intensive care. But it remains in recovery mode after the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on cattle prices from mid-April through mid-July. Prices advanced US$7.05 per cwt live (based on USDA’s five-area steer average) in the four weeks to the week ended October […] Read more
Several initiatives are currently underway that promote sustainable beef production practices.
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Sustainability efforts in the beef industry growing

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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Sustainability was likely a word that few in the North American beef industry uttered in everyday conversation 10 years ago. Today, the word is on everyone’s lips as producers and beef packers promote and develop new programs that increase the industry’s sustainability in the eyes of beef consumers. Cargill became the first North American packer […] Read more
Cattle hides take a tanning
Markets, News, Prime cuts

Cattle hides take a tanning

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
Cattle hides for many years added up to US$60 to the value of a fed steer or heifer and accounted for two-thirds of the value of all byproducts. But hide prices and the value began eroding in 2018 and have not recovered. Now the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed any improvement in hide prices and the […] Read more
A bold new plant concept
Markets, News, Prime cuts

A bold new plant concept

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

By
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t quite bring North American beef processors to their knees in April-May. But many of the largest plants in Canada and the U.S. were forced to close temporarily or drastically reduce operations because of worker illnesses and absenteeism related to the virus. U.S beef plants one week ran at only 68 per […] Read more

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