Holiday beef prices stay steady
Slaughter cattle prices traded steady the week of Dec. 15-21, reports Canfax.
Prices were expected to hold steady through the Christmas-New Year holiday period because packer demand will be moderate and equal to supply.
The beef market saw little change in the days leading up to the holiday. Lower wholesale prices have not stimulated better demand yet, but they might in the new year.
The Montreal wholesale price was $161 a hundredweight for the holiday period and in Calgary it was $128-$138.
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In the feeder market, the number of cattle on offer was down 57 percent from the same time last year, but demand was good.
Average prices were a dollar higher with some classes up to $2 higher.
A USDA report released Dec. 20 said the number of cattle placed on feed in November in the seven reporting states was 1.943 million, an increase of eight percent over the same time in 1995.
There were 8.973 million head on feed on Dec. 1, up three percent over last year. The numbers were close to what the trade had expected.
Hog prices weaker
Hog market prices weakened in the pre-holiday week, dropping $3.20 per hundred kilograms in Saskatchewan.
Cold weather across the Prairies and U.S. plains much of the week slowed marketings, but packers did not raise bids to get more supply. Most bids were $54-$56 (U.S.) a hundredweight.
Sheep markets in central Alberta were $112.80 per hundredweight for market lambs 95-115 pounds live. Rail price for sheep was 32 cents a pound.
