The North American beef cattle herd size is at a 40-year low, after several years of drought and feed shortages in primary cattle regions have taken a heavy toll on cow and heifer numbers. While cattle producers are seeing record-high prices, the beef processing sector is struggling. Dennis Laycraft, executive vice president of the Canadian Cattle Association, said a trade tariff war between the U.S. and Canada would disrupt one of the best price markets beef cattle producers have seen in years.
While cattle producers in both Canada and the U.S. are seeing high prices at all stages of the supply chain due to low herd inventories, this same lack of numbers has led to additional price competition among packers, as well as impacting processing efficiencies at plants. Laycraft said that higher prices due to tariffs on Canadian cattle is close to the last thing that some of the American beef processing plants need right now.
While some are hopeful that incoming President Trump will reconsider his tariff threat, the premier of Alberta is less hopeful of those reconsiderations and says that Canada is ready to retaliate. Danielle Smith met with Trump in Florida over the weekend, and she came back with the belief that Canadians and Americans should brace for a tariff war that will hurt business and consumers on both sides of the border.
We will continue to have coverage of the Trump tariff situation as it develops.
