Lamb Imported and Domestic Boxed Cuts-Not Reportable
October 7, 2005
October 7, 2005 -- A report this week from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Market News Service in Des Moines, Iowa, stated that the "National Weekly Lamb Carcass and Lamb Cuts - Imported Product" report would not be published this week. Due to the lack of voluntary company participation in the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Program (MPR), data was unavailable.
The law requiring lamb meat packers and processors to report prices expired last Friday. The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has asked all participants to continue reporting the information required under the MPR on a voluntary basis, just as they did one-year ago when the act expired for a short time. Last year, domestic lamb companies complied and reports were published in a timely manner.
In September 2004, regulations requiring lamb importers to report information was not in place as it is now. Since the Sept. 30, 2005, expiration of the MPR act, domestic processors and importers were asked to voluntarily report their sales data so reports could be published, however, importers have chosen to not report. In addition, some U.S. companies have chosen, thus far, to not report lamb wholesale cut prices.
According to AMS, lamb carcasses are being reported.
The American Sheep Industry Association has been in communication with lamb processors, as well as Meat and Livestock Australia and Meat and Wool New Zealand, urging them to report as requested by AMS so that a complete set of lamb market information will be available.
Livestock producers urged the U.S. Congress to reauthorize the mandatory reporting system before it expired; however, there has not been reconciliation between the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate on differing versions of legislation.
The law will ultimately be approved in the coming weeks for mandatory compliance.
Staff contact: Peter Orwick, ext. 33
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