Prices firm on low slaughter

USDA have confirmed that a cow from Alabama did have BSE but as the cow was ten years old it was born well before the 1997 regulations came into force concerning ruminant feed stuff.

The South Korean authorities have said that they will not stop the reopening of their market to US beef but that the discovery of the new case of BSE would probably cause a delay in the timetable.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry have said that Seoul will require confirmation that the animal really is ten years old.

Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries have also indicated that the relatively advanced age of the latest BSE case in the US should not affect the negotiations over the reopening of the Japanese market to US beef.

National Beef have purchased Brawley beef packers in California in a deal which unites the fourth largest beef processors with the ninth in the US. National Beef are said to be ten times larger that Brawley which have a 1,800 head/day capacity.

Cattle Buyers Weekly have reported that Quality Beef Supply Cooperative, owners of the closed Tama, Iowa, packing plant, are in talks with Elkhorn Valley Packing, Harper, Kansas, in the hope of reopening the plant. The cooperative are looking for a partner to run the plant which opened in August 2004 but closed thirteen months later.

The Tama plant was designed to process 1,200 head/day and was actually processing 800 head/day when it closed. Elkhorn's plant in Wellington, Kansas, can process 1,200 head/week.

They also announced that Smithfield Foods plan to build a new beef processing plant on the Southern Plains. Smithfield currently process 8,000 head/day in five plants.

US raw hides sold for export in the four-week period to March 2 once more saw China in pole position with 1,319,600, with Korea yet again in second place with 446,400 and Taiwan in third place with 261,900. Next in line were Hong Kong with 119,600 and Mexico with 117,300.

This gave China and Hong Kong a combined total of 1,439,200, which compares with 1,093,600 during our last four-week review which reflected the Lunar New Year holiday drop in business.

In 2005 China imported 644,300 hides during the same four-week period, while Hong Kong took 73,900. This gave a combined total of 718,200, well down on this year's total. Those Chinese tanneries who managed to acquire handbooks under the old regulations which carried over into the first part of 2006 were given some breathing space in which to import as many raw materials as they can before being hit by the new import and VAT requirements.

If they are indeed stockpiling, it will be some time before the effects of the new laws will become evident.

Thailand was again in sixth place with 96,200, then Japan with 90,800. Italy purchased 27,700, Vietnam 11,500, and the Dominican Republic 9,600.

Smaller quantities went to Canada with 4,400, Croatia with 2,300 and Spain 1,500.

The Dominican Republic also bought 34,200 calf and kip, Italy 33,000, China 22,000, Hong Kong 15,400 and Japan 8,700.

On the wet-blue front, Hong Kong was again in first place with 146,400. Taiwan came second with 104,600, then Italy with 88,900. China took fourth place with 48,100 followed by the Dominican Republic with 40,100.

This gave China and Hong Kong a combined total of 194,500 against 178,800 a year earlier.

Mexico bought 40,000, Korea 29,100, Thailand 12,900 and Indonesia 12,000. India purchased 3,000, Japan 3,500, El Salvador 1,400 and Spain 1,200.

Wet-blue splits were apportioned 1,581,900lb to Hong Kong, 565,800lb to China and 524,100 to Italy. Mexico and Taiwan both bought 44,000.

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