It’s Thursday, and as we head into the Easter long weekend, we’re doing the Beef Market Update a day early.
To start off, Anne Wasko of the Gateway Livestock Exchange says she has better news to report than two weeks ago based on the cash price — which seems to have some solid footing for higher prices.
“Last week the market in the U.S. was up another one to two in spots. This week — I know we haven’t got all the trade in yet because it is early — but it looks like another one to two higher. So $116-$118. Light trade, mind you, but it certainly looks like it’s got some solid backing to hold onto those gains and potentially some more whether it is into this week or next week,” Wasko says.
If any of you know Wasko, when things are headed in a positive direction, she really wants to make an effort to highlight them. As she notes, the last time we saw this level for U.S. cash trade, you have to go back to last summer where we briefly hit $118.50 in the early weeks and months of COVID-19, and it only lasted there a week or two.
“So the psychology I think is gonna be improved. It’s a long time since we’ve been here,” she notes.
The cutout market is continuing to surprise many analysts across the market as well — with the choice cutout this week sitting at $247. Although Easter is not traditionally a beef weekend — maybe the Easter Bunny will support the beef industry this weekend and serve some!
“That’s a huge jump — and ignoring 2020’s price shock that we saw last year when we had all the supply challenges, this will be the highest wholesale prices since the spring of 2017. So it’s super, super pricing,” says Wasko.
Check out the full conversation between Anne Wasko and Shaun Haney, below:
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