A frustrating summer has come to a head over the last few weeks, as already-weak cattle prices are on a streak lower.
Cash prices in the U.S. have fallen to $110 per hundred weight, notes Anne Wasko of Gateway Livestock.
“That’s the lowest they’ve been in five years, and that’s five bucks off of last week’s price, so a pretty significant drop,” she points out. “That’s going to lead into feeder cattle markets as we head into September, having just flipped the calendar.”
With phenomenal grass conditions in many areas, there’s no hurry to begin the fall run in Western Canada, she notes in this edition of the Beef Market Update, recorded on Friday.
Week-over-week increases versus year-ago levels in beef production due to larger cattle supplies in the U.S. will continue for some time, while lower corn prices are also driving production of other proteins, says Wasko. “It’s coming at us considerably faster and more furious than I think many of us thought.”
Listen to Anne and Shaun’s latest update, talking about the recent price slide, factors heading into the fall run, and how export demand is impacting the market:
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