2015 saw record high beef prices and positive moves for trade markets, with the repeal of country of origin labeling (COOL) on beef and pork — but North America was also at its lowest cattle inventory in years.
Manitoba Beef Producers general manager Melinda German says they're hoping the cattle industry will move into an expansion phase in 2016.
"Last year we were starting to maybe see some small signals of it, we were starting to see that in some of the other provinces. I think that slowed down a little bit with some of the drought out in Saskatchewan and Alberta, but the reason we we've seen kind of that price correction that we did — well there were many factors — but one of them was the low inventory we have here in Canada and North America. So with everything said and done now, and the prices where they've been, we should start to us move into that expansion phase."
German says beef prices fluctuated in 2015, noting they did come down a bit after hitting a record high at $192.90 per 100 pounds in May. She says while this was good for established producers, it's a little tougher on new producers entering the industry.
Source : PortageOnline