Canada Could Face Huge Cattle Glut

Canada's cattle industry is making plans to increase domestic slaughter in an attempt to offset any long-term closure of the U.S. border to Canadian live cattle, OsterDowJones Commodity News reported last week.

Canada will face a glut of 753,000 cattle by the end of the first quarter of 2004 if the U.S. border doesn't open up to live Canadian cattle and if domestic kill levels don't improve, said Anne Dunford, an analyst with CanFax at the CCA's national meeting.

Separately, CCA officials said Cargill Foods views Japan as a tremendous growth market for beef and has prepared a plan to aggressively promote Canadian beef once trade barriers are lifted, ODJ reported.

Meanwhile, the CCA announced that Canada's domestic beef consumption is up 43% from this time last year. "This has been a key factor in keeping the Canadian beef industry running following the U.S. border closure to Canadian beef," said Glenn Brand, Director of Marketing for the Beef Information Center (BIC).

Editors note: Richard Brock, The Corn and Soybean Digest's Marketing Editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.

To see more market perspectives, visit Brock's Web site at www.brockreport.com.