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Prices for beef to the US move up again
28 April 2016
The US imported beef market was higher again this week, especially in lean beef categories for product to use through the US summer. A little further out, however, there appears to be indications that US-produced beef will get cheaper, with more slaughter-ready cattle coming out of feedlots in the next two to three months. The Steiner Consulting Group, in this week’s market summary for MLA, suggest that in the second half of 2016, imported beef could trade at a premium to domestic beef in the US.
This week, the imported 90CL cow beef indicator moved another 2.5US¢ higher, to 199US¢/lb CIF (up 11.1A¢, to 570.6A¢/kg CIF).
A couple of key points supporting the lean end of the imported market this week were a dramatic drop in US-produced fat trim prices in the last few weeks, and particularly this week; and the fact that Australian and New Zealand supplies are simply not as high as they were a year ago, which means those US buyers finding themselves a little short of product have to meet higher asking prices from exporters.
