Experts Agree: Livestock Markets Not Broken; Affected by Supply and Demand

Dan Cattle, Livestock

supply
meat institute

With cattle futures reaching new multi-year highs this week, the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) submitted testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday underscoring the supply and demand fundamentals of beef and livestock markets and opposing further government intervention that will result in unintended consequences.

“Industry experts, market participants and economists testifying before three different congressional committees in the past two months have found that beef and cattle markets have behaved predictably given supply and demand pressures,” said Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO of the North American Meat Institute. “These witnesses join the Meat Institute in maintaining the beef and cattle markets are dynamic, with recent challenges being due to labor shortages and the COVID pandemic rather than market structure.”

Click here for additional information about NAMI comments submitted earlier in response to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s request for comments on efforts to improve supply chains for the production of agricultural commodities and food products.