THE general situation surrounding the US livestock and poultry markets is the consequence of producers pushing supply down enough to get prices high enough to cover higher feed costs, driven in large measure by the draw on corn for ethanol production.
Importantly, producers do not object to ethanol production but to the extent that ethanol producers do not have to compete for corn due to credits, subsidies and tariffs in the US, and a number of US trade groups this week called for an end to all that.
The American Meat Institute, the National Cattlemen's Beef Assn., the National Chicken Council and the National Turkey Federation urged the House Ways & Means Committee to allow the blending credit and protective tariff on imported ethanol to expire at the end of this year when they are scheduled to be renewed or sunset.
In a letter to committee chair Rep. Sander M. Levin (D., Michigan) and ranking Republican Dave Camp (R., Mich.), the groups said they fully support development of renewable energy but strongly believe "that it is time that the mature, corn-based ethanol industry operates on a level playing field with other commodities" that use corn.
The groups pointed to the Congressional Research Service report in September 2008 that stated that the dramatic increases in livestock production costs are attributable to higher costs for feed. The groups said this has resulted in substantial losses to livestock and poultry producers, substantial cutbacks in production and substantial losses of jobs that "are vital to rural America."
Email a friend