Beef Prices at Record High
I wrote recently about the high cattle prices I sold some cattle for and now I find two articles, one local and one national, about the same subject. They both point to the recent increase in cattle prices are due to a combination of factors in the industry. These factors being:
1. Long term increases in the demand for beef in the U.S. due to the protein rich Atkins and South Beach diets which more and more people are following.
2. Closing of the border from Canada for cattle due to the discovery of 1 cow with BSE (Mad Cow Disease).
3. Decreases in the U.S. herd size due to prolonged drought and previous years poor prices.
While the increase in prices are good for me and the cattle industry as a whole, I am extremely concerned that these same prices on the consumer end of the market are going to severely impact beefs market share against its traditional rivals chicken and pork.
Bad news for the consumer is that it will take many years, due to a number of factors, for beef production to ramp up and bring prices back down for them. Even with the Canadian border opening up, which is going to happen in a couple of more months, the extra cattle from there are not going to significantly reduce prices since the small percentage of cattle from there are a very small percentage of the total U.S. slaughter numbers.
Well I guess this just shows a person that the laws of supply and demand still work. Fewer cattle, higher prices. Wish I had better news for you consumer, but it is good news for me.
In business everyone is out to grab, to fight, to win. Either you are the under or the over dog. It is up to you to be on top. Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)
I wrote recently about the high cattle prices I sold some cattle for and now I find two articles, one local and one national, about the same subject. They both point to the recent increase in cattle prices are due to a combination of factors in the industry. These factors being:
1. Long term increases in the demand for beef in the U.S. due to the protein rich Atkins and South Beach diets which more and more people are following.
2. Closing of the border from Canada for cattle due to the discovery of 1 cow with BSE (Mad Cow Disease).
3. Decreases in the U.S. herd size due to prolonged drought and previous years poor prices.
While the increase in prices are good for me and the cattle industry as a whole, I am extremely concerned that these same prices on the consumer end of the market are going to severely impact beefs market share against its traditional rivals chicken and pork.
Bad news for the consumer is that it will take many years, due to a number of factors, for beef production to ramp up and bring prices back down for them. Even with the Canadian border opening up, which is going to happen in a couple of more months, the extra cattle from there are not going to significantly reduce prices since the small percentage of cattle from there are a very small percentage of the total U.S. slaughter numbers.
Well I guess this just shows a person that the laws of supply and demand still work. Fewer cattle, higher prices. Wish I had better news for you consumer, but it is good news for me.
In business everyone is out to grab, to fight, to win. Either you are the under or the over dog. It is up to you to be on top. Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)
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