Subscribe to The Weekly e-newsletter
For in-depth red meat market news, information and analysis.
Imported US beef market continues to move higher
23 June 2016
US imported beef prices continued to gain ground this week, largely due to the seasonally tight availability of cattle from New Zealand. According to the Steiner Consulting Group’s weekly report for MLA, supplies from Uruguay and Central America were also well-below year-ago levels, and it is not unusual for Australia to be the main supplier of imported lean grinding beef during the US summer and early autumn. US end users are reportedly looking build their inventories.
This week, the imported 90CL cow beef indicator rose 1US¢, to 203US¢/lb CIF (down 3.8A¢, to 599.3A¢/kg CIF).
The report highlights that while imported beef availability is tight, US domestic supplies of lean grinding beef are higher than year-ago levels – somewhat offsetting a more rapid rise in imported beef prices that potentially would have occurred otherwise. The increase in domestic grinding beef is due to higher US cow slaughter over the past couple of months, as well as competitive fed beef prices for lean grinding beef.
