11/25/08 Beef industry is contracting

All segments of the nation's beef industry are contracting. That statement was made by National Cattlemen's Beef Association President Andy Groseta. USDA's Shayle Shagam has the livestock report numbers and they confirm Grosseta's assessment. SHAGAM "What we're basically looking at are the number of cattle on feed in the US being down about seven percent from a year ago. Placements were down about eleven percent which is a fairly sharp decline. Obviously from the feed lot standpoint they're facing declining cattle prices." With feed and grain prices up and fed cattle prices coming down the beef business has lost plenty of equity according to Groseta. GROSETA "We've lost 3.1 billion dollars worth of business in the last eleven consecutive months. We've lost money in the cattle feeding business in the United States." Groseta says he's never experienced a financial situation like the one we're in today. GROSETA "There's no question that there's less dollars out there for consumers to spend. They're much more conservative so we're seeing a softening in the market both here domestically and internationally. This financial crisis that we're is not only a US problem it's a world wide problem" That's hurt strong beef exports which slowed down after September. Groseta says a stronger US dollar has also hurt exports. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott