OSU Report: Beef industry, consumers to be affected by decrease in beef production in 2013
Beef production in the United States is expected to decrease 4.8 percent in 2013, the second largest year-over-year decrease in 35 years, trailing only the 6.4 percent drop in 2004. The reason is a combination of mostly steady carcass weights and a projected 5 percent or more decrease in cattle slaughter, said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension livestock marketing specialist.
“Many analysts expect the 2013 numbers to be followed by a 2014 decrease of 4.5 percent or more,” he said. “These two years would represent the largest percentage decrease since the late 1970s.”