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Originally Posted by Ustwo
Stable, large profit margin, lots of money invested. Not going anywhere.
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US beef sector, pinched by costs, cuts production:
Consulting firm HedgersEdge.com said U.S. beef companies, on average, are losing about $45 on every head of cattle they slaughter. With daily slaughter ranging from 125,000 to 130,000 head, that equates to losses of $5.6 million to $5.8 million a day for the industry....
Margins are slim "because beef is at a high price and is having a tough time competing with pork and poultry," said [analyst Don Roose at U.S. Commodities Inc.].
Not so stable, not so profitable. Much of this is a temporary market fluctuation, I'm sure, but if you look at the long-term view, it's going to be difficult to keep beef prices stable overall.
Meat prices set to soar as production costs mount: analyst:
Wheat prices reached an unprecedented peak of $7.44 U.S. a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade market last week after climbing steadily for months.
Poor weather in wheat-producing regions of Canada and Europe has contributed to the price increase. In addition, more wheat and oilseed crops are being used to produce biofuels.
"Supply has fallen and at the same time demand has risen," Crane said. "We have obviously more people in the world eating more meat which takes up more of the grain. Interestingly in the last year we've really seen the growth of biofuels — more grain that's being grown is going into the fuel market.
Crane said consumers can expect to see an inflation in food prices comparable to the gradual but steady rise in oil prices.
"At the end of the day food prices will have to rise and in different countries they'll rise at different rates. I think it's a little bit like the way oil prices move and that just moved up a significant level over the last two or three years," Crane said.
This isn't an isolated problem. Our economies are globalized; we're in this together.
But, fair enough. We'll keep the socialists out of power, so long as they get their representational power. It would be good to keep things balanced in an unstable global market. I'm not sure I'd win that steak in 5 years, as I think this is a long-term thing. Maybe give me 10 or 15 years.
I prefer sirloin.