Fridays Cattle On Feed Numbers Down, Prices Up

On Friday, the USDA released its monthly Cattle on Feed Report. Though nothing earth shattering reported, what we know on the ground was confirmed. Placements in feedlots during April totaled 1.6 million, 5 percent below a year ago. Regionally, placement into Idaho feedlots was at 97 percent of a year ago and in Washington’s feedlots it was actually 135 percent higher than a year ago. That national decrease in supply, does mean good news in higher prices for ranchers selling their cattle.
For consumers noticing the ever increasing beef prices in the supermarket, USDA economist Ricky Volpe explains
Volpe: “These high beef prices — there are a number of explanations why they are there but the underlying cause is the low cattle inventory in the U.S. The pituctre there is actually worsening not improving. We have the lowest cattle inventory in the U.S. since 1951 and we had the lowest number of new calves entering the cattle supply stream since 1941. So we’re looking not only at a very low inventory of cattle but the rate of increase is slowing down maybe even shrinking.So that means we are going to continue to have very low supply but at the same time, the demand is probably growing because we are exporting huge amounts of beef to China and Southeast Asia and other countries where median incomes are rising faster than our own and where their currencies are currently stronger. So demand is growing, supply is shrinking. Beef prices are on the way up and they are going to be there for a while.”