Beef prices dive
Large beef supplies and reduced slaughter at packers contributed to a dive of $2 per hundredweight in fed cattle prices last week.
Heavy cattle in particular saw low bids, said Canfax.
Prices Feb. 26 were $78.75-$82 per cwt. for steers and $79-$82.95 for heifers.
Although packers reduced their kill, they failed to raise wholesale prices. In Calgary, wholesale beef slipped by $2 to $139-$151 per cwt.
Canfax said fed calves will start to enter the mix soon, but they too are heavier than normal: “Big cattle have got to go – they’ll just get tougher to sell with more calves around.”
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The outlook was for steady prices in the low $80s.
In the cow trade, the average price was down about $1 per cwt., but the range was the same as the previous week. The outlook is for steady prices.
Feeder cattle fell in response to the lower fed market. Most weight classes were down $1-$2 per cwt. and more on heavy classes. Feedlots are beginning to fill. The outlook is for prices to be steady to lower if the pressure on the fed market continues.
In the bred cow market, the bulk of sales were at $850-$1,050 per head. Most bred heifers sold at $850-$1,000 and a few cow-calf pairs were $800-$1,150.
Pork prices also fall
With ample supplies of hogs available and large stocks of pork in storage, U.S. packers reduced their bids for hogs from $35 (U.S.) per cwt. live early in the week to $30 per cwt. in some areas, said Manitoba Agriculture.
Packer break-even prices were about $38 (U.S.) per cwt. early in the week, but, with steady to lower wholesale prices for pork, packers had little incentive to increase hog prices.
Manitoba Index 100 hog prices fell from $128 per 100 kg on Feb. 23 to $116.83 per 100 kg on Feb. 26. Alberta’s price was $111 to $116 per 100 kg on Feb. 27.
Manitoba Pork reports that about 30,000 hogs per week are going into the U.S. from Canada as a result of the Maple Leaf strike. If Maple Leaf’s Burlington, Ont., workers accept the latest offer from the company in a vote March 6, analysts expect hog futures prices to jump by $5 (U.S.) per cwt. This would result in an $6 to $7 per cwt. increase in Canadian prices.
