Daily Livestock Report – Read more…
Beef shipments continue to hold together well but the sharp slowdown in sales last week may be a warning shot that demand has started to shift. Still early to talk about this, however. We would need to see a second and third week of poor beef export sales before calling for a significant slowdown.
Total shipments last week were 17,053 MT, about the same as the four week average and just 4% lower than a year ago. Net sales for the week were just 7,800 MT, however, a 50% decline from the pace of the last four weeks. Sales were lower across the board, which makes us think that maybe USDA did not receive a report from a major exporter. If that’s the case, then the numbers will be included in next week’s update, which is why we are saying we want to see a second and third week before calling a slowdown.
Sales to China were down 58% from the four week average and sales to S. Korea were down 68%, which is a red flag that there may be some issue with the data. Shipments to China are holding steady at around 3,000 MT/week and shipments to S. Korea at 5,400 MT were 26% higher than the four week average and 27% higher than a year ago.
