Current Cattle Market Daily Headlines for January 29, 2021

americancattlemarkets

5 years ago

USDA freezes $2.3 billion supplemental CFAP

Late in the day on Wednesday, USDA reported that $2.3 billion in the supplemental Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments would temporarily be frozen.
According to the White House memo, Regulatory Freeze Pending Review, USDA has suspended the CFAP- Additional Assistance processing and payments and has halted implementation until further notice.
- FSA local offices will continue to accept applications during this time, but no checks will be cut while the program is being reviewed.
The memo went on to say that in the coming days, USDA and the Biden Administration would be taking additional steps to bring relief and support to all parts of food and agriculture during the pandemic.
Just days before President Biden was sworn into office, former President Trump expanded eligibility for CFAP 1 and 2 programs.
- This expansion was mostly directed at contract pork and poultry producers and others previously excluded from the relief payments.

Ben Tyner disappeared on January 26, 2019 in a remote area northeast of Vancouver, B.C., while looking for cattle. At the time, the Nicola Ranch in B.C employed Tyner.
- Tyner’s family members are now asking for information on his disappearance two years after he was last seen.
  - A reward is being offered by the Tyner family for any information that locates their son and leads to the conviction of those responsible for his death.
- The RCMP searched for Tyner for a week before suspending their search, partially due to frigid temperatures.
  - Jesse O’Donaghey, RCMP Southeast District spokesperson, reported that police cannot share their findings regarding the ongoing investigation, however they do believe that Tyner was a victim of homicide.

There has been a shipping container shortage for quite a while, but the shortage has now reached critical levels causing shipping costs to soar, almost 300 percent in some cases.
- One exporter even went as far as saying that this shortage threatens the world food supply.
An investigative report by CNBC found that international shipping carriers rejected almost 180,000 export containers at four major U.S. ports during October and November.
- This equated to a loss of $630 million dollars.
According to Bob Sinner, President of SB&B Foods, 30-40 percent of his company’s total exports have either been delayed or cancelled, forcing the company to use airfreight to Asia instead.
Redwood Logistics CEO, Mark Yeagar told CNBC that it is not just U.S. competition causing the problem. He estimates three in every four containers from the U.S. are going back to China empty to be refilled with more profitable Chinese exports.
Some carriers believe that the issue is unintentional and being caused by the pandemic. Nonetheless, the Federal Maritime Commission has launched an investigation to determine if carriers have violated the Shipping Act, which makes it illegal for them to “unreasonably refuse” cargo.

On Thursday around 10:12 AM, five people were killed and another 10 taken to the hospital with injuries after a nitrogen leak and explosion at Prime Pak Foods’ plant in Gainesville, GA.
- Three of the ten taken to the hospital were reported to be in critical condition.
Prime Pak makes value-added products from beef, pork and poultry meats for foodservice and retail customers.