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Specialist says suspension of beef imports from Mexico will have an impact

An extension specialist says the suspension of beef imports from Mexico could have a significant impact on feeder cattle prices. Charley Martinez with the University of Tennessee tells Brownfield about 5 percent of the feeder calf supply comes in from Mexico. “We now have shut off that valve immediately,” he says. “It happened overnight, and in an environment where we already have tight supplies, we’re going to end up in a spot where we’re going to have tighter supplies.”

Over the weekend, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service temporarily suspended imports of live cattle and bison originating from or traveling through Mexico following the detection of New World screwworm in cattle.

Martinez says this will have an immediate impact in border states like Arizona and Texas. “You have feed lot operators that are needing cattle now, and they no longer have a supplier, and they’re going to have to go out to the sale barns and go look for cattle,” he says. “Well, that’s actually going to cause a short-run demand increase, and as demand increases, prices increase.”

He says the longer the suspension lasts, the greater the economic impact. “With this happening basically at the beginning of the beef supply chain, there’s going to be increased prices or increased cost for certain players within the segment,” he says. “Eventually, it’s going to get to the consumer.”

So far, NWS has only been reported in the southern state of Chiapas, near the Guatemala border, but has not yet been detected near the U.S.-Mexico border.

AUDIO: Charley Martinez, University of Tennessee