July was a strong month in the beef market both for the U.S. and Canada according to Anne Wasko, market analyst with Gateway Livestock Exchange. “On the U.S. front, strong pork and beef exports continue to be the story,” she says adding that in July alone, beef exports from the U.S. to the rest of the… Read more »
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Beef Market Update: A lot of mouths to feed
You might be forgiven for thinking that every fall is the same when it comes to cattle leaving the summer range and heading off to the auction ring. Every fall is different and every fall farmers study the markets to see how they can best react to what they see coming up. Anne Wasko, market… Read more »
Beef Market Update: Anticipating an early fall run
Excessive heat has taken its toll on pastures, hay supplies, and water consumption for cattle, and while this may not be a big market issue today, Anne Wasko, of Gateway Livestock, says that these factors will mean an earlier, stronger fall run. That’s just one of the topics discussed in this week’s Beef Market Update…. Read more »
Beef Market Update: Quiet trade week as we get closer to the halfway point of summer
As our beef market expert Anne Wasko puts it, ‘It was the dog days of summer —but for the beef industry’ last week. It was a quiet trade week, and the cattle that did trade looked about $2 lower than the average price this year — however, it’s not a big surprise due to the… Read more »
RealAg Radio, July 27: A surprising top export, the importance of CETA, & a beef market update
RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney starts the show on a high note by reading a pretty impactful tweet from John Kowalchuk about hardworking farmers. From there, we head into the news, where you’ll hear about: How the feds registered a surplus of $3.2 billion The U.S. released its GDP figures, and they’re up 2.2 per… Read more »
Beef Market Update: Strong demand, Canadian basis levels & packer margins for Cargill
It’s been a volatile couple of weeks in cattle futures, with the market giving back most of last week’s gains in the last few days. Meanwhile, cash prices in Western Canada have remained strong, reports Anne Wasko in this latest Beef Market Update, with average prices for fed cattle getting back into the mid-150s in Alberta…. Read more »
Beef Market Update: Live cattle futures hold following cash price recovery
When the live cattle futures are limit up, it’s a good day for cattle feeders. In these turbulent trade war times, any of the commodities will take a positive day. Cattle futures have been somewhat separated from the downward swing of soybeans, lean hogs, and wheat, but sometimes commodities are guilty by association. The table… Read more »
Beef Market Update: Lower cash trade and loonie, but strong exports
Through the spring of 2018, we have talked about several common themes for the cattle markets that impact the fundamentals of this market. Even though Live Cattle futures finished up over $2 on Friday, the trade has been quite choppy, which gives traders little confidence that we are headed higher from here. Here is a… Read more »
Beef Market Update – Strong beef demand, lower carcass weights, and the wall
It has been a busy week in the cattle markets, as Canada and the United States are on the brink of a trade war that we would not have imagined a year ago. Much of that is out of the control of feedyard owners and ranchers, but the impacts will most certainly be felt, depending… Read more »
Beef Market Update: “Frustrating” prices heading into grilling season
Live cattle led the futures market lower this past week, with cash prices in tow, thanks to large supplies hitting the market. Cash cattle values in Canada fell by ten to 12 dollars, while U.S. prices were five to six dollars lower on the week. What’s frustrating for beef producers is demand and retail prices… Read more »
Beef Market Update: Record basis levels set to change
The beef markets are riding an unusually high basis in both Canada and the United States, but that’s set to change. “So over the next eight weeks — between now and when June goes off — we will see the two converge,” says Gateway Livestock’s Anne Wasko, adding that in 2015 basis was +20 when… Read more »
Beef Market Update: Strong basis prompts cattle feeders to remain current
A strong basis in Canada and the U.S. is prompting cattle feeders to sell sooner than later, and at lower weights. “When you pick up cattle prices in the South Plains $3-5 from last week — 121/122 — and the futures dropped as we’ve seen, you continue to get this widening spread,” says Anne Wasko of… Read more »
Beef Market Update: Trade news and cold weather keeping folks up at night
Whether we’re talking calving or barbecuing, it’s not ideal when temperatures are 20 degrees below their seasonal normal. The delayed onset of spring is not doing ranchers any favours, with calves hitting the ground in difficult conditions this spring (if we can call it that). At the same time, with large cattle supplies hitting the… Read more »
Beef Market Update: Free fallin’, calving, and market clear-outs
As a snowstorm bears down on the prairies just in time for spring calving, the cattle markets continue their slide downwards, and futures markets try to figure out how low they have to go to clear additional product in the value chain. That’s where we start this week’s discussion from Beef Market Update analyst Anne… Read more »
Beef Market Update: StatsCan confirms Canada isn’t following U.S. herd expansion
Statistics Canada has confirmed once again that Canadian cattle producers are not following their American counterparts in expanding the beef herd. The federal agency published its January 1, 2018, inventory report this week, and Anne Wasko, of Gateway Livestock, walks us through the numbers in this Beef Market Update. First of all, for the not-so-analytical… Read more »