The Beef Industry in Columbia

[farmers_son]

I came across an interesting paper on the Beef Industry in Columbia.

http://www.investincolombia.com.co/Adjuntos/272_Microsoft%20Word%20-%20BeefProfile.pdf

[URL="http://www.investincolombia.com.co/Adjuntos/272_Microsoft%20Word%20-%20BeefProfile.pdf"]Click Here[/URL]

Lots of information from a different perspective than we usually see. Columbia has one of the largest beef herds in the world and as such deserves some attention. The paper also provides a view on global beef production looking ahead to 2017. Canada is expected to do well, fourth largest growth of any nation.

Although Columbia has a large herd their production statistics, if I am reading it right, are incredibly bad. 58% birth rate, 627 days between births, weaning weight 150 Kgs.

I hope you find it as interesting as I did. Enjoy.

[ASRG]

A very interesting article. I note that once the Canada/Columbia free trade deal takes effect Columbia will have unrestricted access to Canadian markets?
I wonder how much it costs to produce that Columbian beef? It seems to me it might be fairly cheap? How does that cost structure compare with Alberta or Saskatchewan?
I kind of wonder about the Colombian claim that the Cebu(brahma) cattle have the best beef genetics in the world!!? Is that the truth, or wishful thinking?

[wilagro]

Harper and his "Free Trade" agreements will eventually come back to haunt us as cheap imports will screw Canadian markets for all kinds of products including BEEF. These wide open trade agreements are totally idiotic.

[burnt]

What percentage of the votes come from agriculture? What percentage of the votes come from those with industrial interests? Think urban #'s vs. rural #'s.

[ASRG]

I wonder how long it will take for Columbian beef to start rolling in after this free trade deal is up and running? Cull cow prices are fairly high and that is raising the price of hamburger and manufacturing beef (Subway). The best way to lower cull cow prices is to bring in cheap imports?
The general population wants a cheap Big Mac and I don't think they care where it comes from!

[farmers_son]

There is a global shortage of beef causing the price of beef to rise world wide. I do not believe there is any "cheap" meat out there to import. In 2011 most of our imports, other than the U.S., came from Australia. The price of live cattle in Australia is very strong too.

While the consumer may or may not care where their beef comes from (example COOL) McDonalds does and goes to some lengths to use domestic product.

The reading I have done suggests Columbia does not export beef due to their dismal production and imports beef from other South American countries. Columbia was the first South American country to open their borders to Canadian beef after 2003. Possibly because of a pending FTA. However if Columbia could successfully address its production issues it could be a major player. They have the cows but not the production. One calf every two years is pretty bad.

You may be interesting in this article from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. It discusses beef trade and Canada beef from a U.S. perspective. Basically Canadian supplies are limited.

http://www.dailylivestockreport.com/documents/dlr%2009-14-11.pdf

<a href="http://www.dailylivestockreport.com/documents/dlr%2009-14-11.pdf
">Click Here</a>

[farmers_son]

I just got the most recent market news from Australia. Australian grinding beef is trading in the Canadian market at a 21 cent per kg premium to domestic grinding beef. In other words it is not the price of cull cows driving up the price of hamburger...it is the price of hamburger driving up the price of cull cows.

http://www.mla.com.au/Prices-and-markets/Market-news/Canadian-beef-supply-likely-to-drop-further

<a href="http://www.mla.com.au/Prices-and-markets/Market-news/Canadian-beef-supply-likely-to-drop-further
">Click Here</a>