Beef prices rise
Tight supplies of fed cattle and competitive bidding from U.S. buyers helped drive up slaughter cattle prices again last week.
Average prices rose more than $2 per hundredweight.
Packers were able to boost wholesale prices for beef. The Montreal price rose $5 to total $168 per cwt. The Calgary range increased to $130-$143 per cwt.
Canfax says fed cattle prices will probably trade at these levels for the next few weeks because supplies will continue tight. The potential for higher prices will come from the U.S.
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Some U.S. analysts predict that if demand for beef continues strong, prices there could increase another $2 per cwt.
The strength of the fed market and good demand helped push feeder prices higher last week.
Canfax says prices were steady to $1 per cwt higher. Although the volume offered for sale was up 40 percent last week and is expected to stay up through March, demand is such that the price outlook is steady.
Pork markets last week were on a roller coaster. Manitoba Agriculture says a storm in the U.S. upper Midwest reduced marketings and packers had to increase bids from $50 (U.S.) per cwt. early in the week to $53 later, but closed at about $50 by week’s end.
Sheep prices were unchanged. The Saskatchewan Sheep Development Board said bids for lambs were $1.25 a pound for all weights. Slaughter sheep were 40 cents a lb. and goats were 50 cents a lb.
