It’s becoming a bidding war for U.S. beef

With 2022 set to be the third consecutive year of declining beef cow inventories, and the fourth year with a smaller calf crop, beef production is expected to retreat by about 3% in the next year. While this bodes well for cattle price projections, it could return consumers to a situation last experienced about a decade ago, when international consumers were willing to pay up for beef to the point that availability for the domestic market was compromised.