| | The latest cattle auction volumes and beef production numbers are in. Jason Wood, provincial livestock market analyst with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, breaks them down.
Wood says that Alberta cattle auction volumes for January to December 2018 were 1.573 million head, down just over half a per cent from 2017, and 2018 auction numbers were less than two per cent above the five-year average.
“Looking at auction volumes from the start of the fall run in September to mid-January we see that volumes are down 3.4 per cent compared to a year ago and on par with the five-year average,” says Wood.
“Last fall we saw cattle marketed ahead of the traditional fall run period as producers managed pasture conditions,” he notes. “But, we also saw volumes decline in November and December, leaving the overall total similar to the previous year.”
Wood adds that for the first few weeks of 2019, volumes are about six per cent higher than they were a year ago.
Slaughter and beef production were up in 2018. “In Western Canada, 2018 beef production was more than 897,000 tonnes, or seven per cent higher than in 2017,” say Wood. “In total, Canada’s beef production was 1.158 million tonnes, an increase of more than six per cent compared to 2017.”
On the cattle supply side, Wood says that the total federally inspected slaughter in Canada was more than three million head, with more than 78 per cent being processed in western Canada.
“We also saw an increase in beef exports with data for the January to November 2018 period reporting exports up four per cent year over year.”
Canada’s top five beef export markets continue to be the U.S., Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico and China.
For more information about auction volumes and beef production, contact Jason Wood at 780-422-3122.
Contact:
Jason Wood
780-422-3122 |
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