The Impact of Lifting the U.S. Ban on Canadian Beef

From the Globe and Mail [registration required], the U.S. ban on Canadian beef has been lifted [also see the comments at The Western Standard]:

The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was released Thursday after a one-day hearing in Seattle, where an American ranchers' group argued Canadian cows are unsafe.

If what I posted yesterday is correct, then the big gainers will be U.S. meat packers, and, to a lesser extent, Canadian beef farmers and U.S. beef consumers,. The losers will be U.S. beef farmers and Canadian meat packers. There is also a chance that beef prices for Canadian consumers might increase a bit.

But as I said there, the effects on prices will be smaller than the media might lead us to believe because the markets were already open for pre-dressed beef.