Beef Worries or Not
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Beef demand has remained surprisingly strong despite record-high prices, which has been a remarkable trend.
Dr. Charles Martinez, an assistant professor of ag and resource economics at the University of Tennessee, says struggles in the overall U.S. economy don’t seem to be affecting demand, at least for now …
MARTINEZ … “I think concerns, no, it's more of something to watch. You know, if we think about a traffic stoplight, we have green for go, red for stop, and a yellow for caution. I would put us currently in the yellow bucket in terms of whether there's not necessarily a strong concern, which I would consider a red light, but it's more of something to watch, depending upon what industry you're talking about, what segment of the economy you're talking about.”
Martinez says there are legitimate struggles in other economic sectors, but despite that …
MARTINEZ … “beef in particular, I think right now, all market signals are showing, yes, prices are up, but demand is up, which is a good thing. So that also indicates that we still have some ceiling to go in terms of demand. But the question is, how do they buy that product? Is it going to be with credit to continue to drive up credit debt, or is it going to be other forms in terms of their actual income? So, no real concerns right now, but definitely something to watch.”
Again, Dr. Charles Martinez of the University of Tennessee.
