BSE disrupts beef market
Last week’s news about bovine spongiform encephalopathy and the closed border meant there were no packer bids and only a handful of feedlot sales.
Most packers couldn’t buy cattle with their beef sales disrupted and the border closed, said Canfax.
Packing plants operated on a disrupted, reduced schedule with decisions on production made day to day and hour to hour. Plants were running about 50 percent of normal.
After so many weeks of discussing the rapidly rising Canadian dollar, the sharp drop of the loonie was hardly noticed.
Read Also
USDA’s August corn yield estimates are bearish
The yield estimates for wheat and soybeans were neutral to bullish, but these were largely a sideshow when compared with corn.
Strong beef demand in the United States this year has caused record high beef prices in May and consequently a strong fed market there, said Canfax.
U.S. cut-out values set record highs last week with the choice cutout as high as $143.70 per hundredweight and the select at $125.71.
Good beef sales and aggressive weekly slaughter caused cattle to be marketed ahead of schedule.
This decreased the availability of choice carcasses causing a near record choice-to-select spread of $18-$19 per cwt.
The U.S. fed market cash prices were almost $13 US per cwt., or 19 percent, higher than the same time last year.
Lower results
Canfax feeder averages are based on sales from Thursday to Wednesday each week, which means this week’s report averages include sales that were held prior to the BSE announcement on May 20, as well as a few sales held after the news.
The weekly averages were mostly 50 cents Cdn to $3.50 per cwt. lower.
A few sales in central Alberta on May 21 showed a larger decrease of $5-$25 per cwt.
Auction market volume was 10,000 head, with most of the trade May 15-16. The volume was 55 percent smaller than the week before and 66 percent smaller than the same week last year.
Slaughter cows traded at $44-$66.50 per cwt.
Sales in central Alberta May 21 on D1, 2 cows were $44-$51, a decline from the same day the previous week of about $14-$15 per cwt.
In stock cow trade, bred cows were $800-$1,250 on light volume while bred heifers traded at $900-$1,250.
A few cow-calf pairs traded at $1,200-$1,750.
Uncertainty affects pork
Having already stocked up for the U.S. Memorial Day holiday, retailer demand for pork was down a bit last week.
The U.S. pork cutout value fell slightly due mainly to lower wholesale prices for loins, said Manitoba Agriculture.
Lean hog futures and cash prices declined, due partly to weaker pork demand and partly to market uncertainty in response to the BSE case.
The Iowa-Minnesota daily direct hog price (plant mean, 51-52 percent, lean carcass converted to live weight) decreased from $49.16 US per cwt. on May 20 to $46.98 May 22.
The week’s hog price averaged one to two percent above the previous week’s price.
Canadian prices were helped by the weaker loonie.
Sheep, goats steady
Ontario Stockyards reported 1,510 sheep and lambs and 79 goats traded.
Light lambs traded under pressure, while all other classes of lambs and sheep sold at steady prices. All classes of goats sold steady.
