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Lean beef market still moving up in the US
23 July 2015
The imported beef market moved higher again this week for lean trimmings, in line with the typical seasonal pattern of the previous five years. In fact, based on the weekly survey of importers conducted by the Steiner Consulting Group for MLA, the current price of imported 90CL beef is still historically high, despite trading cheaper than this time last year (in US$ terms).
In US$ terms, the imported 90CL cow beef indicator was 235US¢/lb CIF this week, up 5.5US¢ (up 18.3A¢, to 701.9A¢/kg CIF). The price of this, and all other beef products being exported to the US, in A$ terms, has also been assisted by the ongoing depreciation of the A$, and is currently sitting 106A¢/kg above year-ago levels.
Australian beef exports are still moving quickly to the US, but importers and end-users are showing more interest in meeting the asking prices of exporters at present. This is partly due to supplies for some end-users being pre-bought, which means those in the spot market have a relatively smaller pool of beef on which to bid.
