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US: Shrinking herds push beef prices higher

30/09/2013
US feedlots had 7.2% fewer cattle being fattened for slaughter on September 1 than a year earlier, according to a new US Department of Agriculture report. Exports of beef during the first seven months of 2013 were up 2.8%.

“The feed report really catapulted prices higher,” Lane Broadbent, vice-president of brokerage Kis Futures, told Reuters. “This week’s rally is based off the assumption that our supplies are going to get tighter and tighter.”

As of January 1, the cattle herd was at the smallest since 1952 after the worst drought since the 1930s parched pasture lands and forced ranchers to send more animals to be slaughtered. Feedlots lost about $52 a head on average in August, according to Rich Nelson, chief strategist at brokerage Allendale.



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