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Brazilian beef ban doesn’t bump up prices

A cattle industry leader is surprised the market did not respond more favorably following the U.S. ban of fresh beef imports from Brazil.

Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association president Krist Wollum says the USDA decision should improve the price outlook for domestic beef producers.

“It should be a good thing, but the troubling part is that when they announced that there were shipments of beef coming from Brazil, our markets took a $3 dollar dip.  And when the announcement was made that we weren’t going to be taking anymore (beef) from Brazil, it didn’t seem to have any positive effect on our market.”

He tells Brownfield the bulk of Brazilian beef imported to the U.S. would be considered grinding meat.

“A lot of the meat that we supply here in the United States is (mostly) higher-quality meat and not so much the grinding meat.  So it definitely could have an effect on raising some of the prices on some of these cuts, as some of it will go into grinding.”

The USDA says the suspension of shipments is indefinite, and Wollum applauds the agency for doing its due diligence inspecting beef imports from other countries.