Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook: April 2013
Beef/Cattle: Improved prospects for grazing in 2013 because of recent rains have bolstered feeder cattle prices. Lower year-over-year supplies of beef have provided support for cow prices, but this has been less so for fed cattle and wholesale beef prices.
Beef/Cattle Trade: With strong global demand, U.S. beef exports are expected to decline only about 1 percent in 2013. U.S. beef imports are expected to strengthen as the year progresses.
Pork/Hogs: The Quarterly Hogs and Pigsreport showed larger March 1 inventories compared with a year ago. Commercial pork production in 2013 is expected to increase about 1 percent. February exports were off sharply, with lower shipments to all major markets except Canada.
Special Article: “U.S. Pork Production Rises on a Smaller base of Breeding Animals” Poultry: The forecast for first-quarter 2013 broiler meat production was lowered slightly to 9.16 billion pounds, just under 1 percent higher than in first-quarter 2012. At the end of February, cold storage holdings were 615 million pounds, up 8.3 percent from the previous year. U.S. turkey meat production is estimated at 1.46 billion pounds in first quarter 2013, 10 million pounds above the previous estimate and almost 1 percent higher than the previous year. Stocks of whole birds, at 172 million pounds, made up 43 percent of total turkey stocks.
Poultry Trade: Broiler and turkey shipments in February 2013 fell from a year ago, while egg shipments increased over the same period. Broiler shipments dropped almost 8 percent from a year earlier, totaling 588.4 million pounds. Turkey exports totaled 60.7 million pounds in February 2013, a decrease of 2.3 percent from a year earlier. Egg and egg product exports totaled 21.5 million dozen in February 2013, an increase of almost 9 percent from last February.
