Beef Takes Back Seat Over US Thanksgiving Holiday
AUSTRALIA - The US market for imported beef held steady this week, with limited trading being carried out. Over the first half of this week, many end users were focused on business over the US Thanksgiving holiday period rather than making out front purchases.
27 November 2009
1 minute read
Imported prices for Australian 90CL averaged 134.5US¢/lb CIF (on Wednesday afternoon, US time), down 0.5US¢/lb on last week. Mirroring this, FAS prices in A$ terms fell slightly, by 0.5A¢/kg over the past week to 292.8¢/kg FAS – 22.9 per cent lower than a year earlier.
In the lead up to Thanksgiving, the spotlight has been on turkey and ham sales, with grinding beef generating limited demand. However, seasonally, beef sales tend to improve during December. Similarly, imported beef supplies traditionally increase in December, however this year, imports from Australia are likely to be substantially down on historical levels given the lower shipments exported in October (16,187 tonnes swt, down 42 per cent on October 2008).
Tighter freezer stocks of imported beef going into January combined with the seasonal tightening in US domestic cow meat supplies point to bullish conditions in January with the likelihood of foodservice operators (with some currently short bought) and retailers competing for the limited product (Steiner Consulting Group).
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