Last week’s Industry At A Glance focused on the issue of producers’ share of the retail dollar. Producer share refers to the feeding sector’s general proportion of the retail dollar; it equals the value of a fed steer/heifer as a percentage of total retail revenue generated per animal. That discussion is an outshoot of some recent coverage of international trade in the beef industry.  

The key take-aways from last week’s discussion are:

Nevertheless, the concept of producer share has become an important topic amidst industry attention surrounding 2018’s new export record exceeding $8 billion. Most notably, one organization argues that touting export accomplishments is disingenuous given the fed market in 2018 averaged $117 versus roughly $123 in 2012. 

Therefore, it’s not really helping producers and the organization points out, “The producers' share of the retail beef dollar was 52.2% back in 2012. In 2018, with record exports and increased beef demand, the producers' share shrank to less than 44%.”

Last week’s graph highlighted the long-run trends with producer share and the fed market. This week’s graph highlights the relationship between producer share and feedyard returns. 

Additionally, the graph highlights comparison between 2012 and 2018. Several things are important in the graph:

Speer serves as an industry consultant and is based in Bowling Green, Ky. Contact him at [email protected]