Interesting. Look at the following article in Bloomberg today:
"The cost of U.S. beef for Japanese meat eaters doubled in the past year to the highest in a decade, eroding earnings as the yen weakened and global prices soared.
The wholesale price of frozen short-plate, the meat used for beef bowls in Japanese fast-food restaurants such as Yoshinoya Holdings Co. (9861 ? 0,08% 1 286,00), rose to 1,081 yen ($9.36) a kilogram last month from 555 yen a year ago, according to Tokyo-based Agriculture & Livestock Industries Corp."
... "Cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have rallied 27 percent this year, the second-biggest gainer among the 22 raw materials in the Bloomberg Commodity Index. (BCOM ? 0,81% 116,88) The price is headed for the sixth straight annual advance, the longest rally since at least 1965."
... "Higher prices haven’t hurt demand for U.S. beef as the appetite for meat in emerging economies grows with incomes, said Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Fujitomi Co., a commodity broker in Tokyo."
Guess the first paragraph regards specials cuts which are hard to generalize price for? Also important with heavy demand from emerging markets. The article further spoke of us beef production down because of earlier draught and that full production was expected to be reached at earliest 2017, which is good news as we don't have a clue if/when the ban of us beef will be lifted or not, hopefully not.
If you want an interesting documentary on the "corruption" of the us food production system, look at Food Inc. really interesting. Another reason why owning Siaf feels like bulls eye in every way possible for the long term if they can get their sh*t together!
