John Stika, President of Certified Angus Beef visited with Ron Hays about the remarkable brand of Certified Angus Beef. The organization just finished up their 41st year. 2019 went down as the 15th consecutive year of growth, and the 13th record year for sales in a row. The organization is up by 3% and hit 1.25 billion pounds in sales. Stika is excited about the energy “We continue to build off of the momentum for quality that we are starting to see among consumers and among our retail and food service partners.”
The retail and domestic business is also growing by 9%, and by 4% in food service. They also showed gains in the international markets. Stika says “We feel really blessed to be hitting on all 8 cylinders right now”
While there have been some challenges in the cattle industry with falling prices, the premiums are still there for CAB. Stika added, “While the base price may not be what we would have liked to have seen in Cattle country, what we do know is that the value added is still there. So while it may not be as high as some would have liked, that calf is still worth more if they hit certified angus beef or prime.”
Certified Angus Beef produces a higher return, a certified angus beef Carcass brings back $100 a head more than the average, and a prime Carcass would have brought about more than $240 a head more. “Those are real dollars that cattleman can access in one way or another that ultimately help drive their sustainability and their viability in the business” states Stika.
The CAB has done very well in that base mission of improving the demand and well being of the Angus breeders. The mission statement is to Increase demand for registered angus cattle that are owned by the members of the association and their customers by promoting the best product that the Angus breed has to offer. Stika adds “We believe that’s certified Angus beef.”
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