Key Takeaways:
Imports supply 70–75 percent of U.S. lamb disappearance, with Australia and New Zealand accounting for nearly all imported volume. The deficit is structural, not cyclical: domestic production cannot scale quickly enough to displace imports or reset the market’s reference price. Freight and exchange rates function as pricing variables because imported lamb travels long distances and is priced across AUD, NZD, and USD currency relationships. Carcass consistency reinforces import dependence: U.S. lamb retains important quality advantages, but rising domestic variability weakens buyer confidence in uniform supply. The U.S. lamb market is short domestic production and long freight, FX, and Oceania climate risk.
The U...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. and Chinese officials are expected to discuss agriculture and non-tariff trade barriers ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month, potentially opening the door to additional U.S. agricultural purchases or improved marke...
The U.S. will observe Labor Day on Monday, 7 September. U.S. markets and the WPI office will be closed that day. The next edition of Ag Perspectives will be published Tuesday, 8 September...
Key Takeaways: Drought and changes to the multi-year trend in cow slaughter and retention have the potential to dramatically alter beef trim supplies and pricing, and WPI specifically models three different drought scenarios for fall 2026. Based on our models, WPI expects 90 percent lean...
