Interesting News – Thoughts From The Middle of Nowhere

<a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-08-10T181804Z_01_N10469272_RTRIDST_0_FOOD-BEEF-JAPAN.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna" title="Reuters News">U.S. beef sales to Japan off to fast start</a> n n<blockquote>Sales of U.S. beef to Japan are off to a fast start with 500 metric tons sold since the market reopened July 27 and three stores in Tokyo selling out of their offerings this week, U.S. meat industry sources said on Thursday. n n"To me that is a sign that beef exports to Japan may make a much quicker comeback than we previously thought," said Dan Vaught, livestock analyst with A.G. Edwards.</blockquote> n nFive hundred metric tons of US beef sold all ready. Stores all ready sold out of beef. Is this ever good news. We in the industry were led to believe that the Japanese consumer wouldn't buy US beef. I guess we were just hearing from the vocal minority. The silent majority are letting us know their opinion by buying good US beef. n nI should know better than to listen to the alarmists but when it's the only voice you hear you take it to be gospel after a while. n nIt will be interesting to see where this leads the cattle market. I'm sure it will drive prices up. Not a bad thing for me but not great for consumers. The next big question in the cattle market is what about next year? My sources indicate that with all the corn futures being bought up by proposed ethanol plants, there is going to be a shortage of corn in the next year which will really drive feed prices up. Who will go bust and who will survive. The livestock feeding industry or the ethanol industry. Stay tuned, it's going to get interesting. n nAdvertising doesn't create a product advantage. It can only convey it. William Bernbach