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| Not necessarily in this order, nor all inclusive or mutually exclusive:
- NZ and post-drought Aus. lamb meat imports.
- The lamb LRP program.
- A US packer monopoly.
- A relatively small US market easily influenced by outside forces.
If the ASI was really interested in the future viability of the American sheep industry and of all US lamb producers they would undertake a comprehensive, objective study starting with the large price flucuations of the past few years and go on from there. A study that doesn't start with a preconceived outcome and that's done by professionals, not some post-grad students working on their doctoral thesis.
I don't hold much hope for future Asian exports from the US and I don't think they were the reason for the high prices in the past. Even if the dollar would drop precipitiously making trade with those countries more attractive, that would just cause the Ozzies and Kiwis to pull out of the US and fill those other countries' needs, and cheaper than the US could. However, the void created by their US departure might have a positive effect on our prices, but that's not a given, refer back to the fourth bullet point above. | |
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what happened to the sheep market
