So here we are in Stockholm, our gateway to Europe this trip. What a lovely city it is and what a welcome rest it has provided. For those of you who have been with me for a few years, you know that my family and I also have a home in Estonia, where my wife is from. In case you don’t know, Estonia is a small Baltic country with a big heart. A former reluctant member of the Soviet Empire, let’s not hope it will be again anytime soon.

Anyway, my wife Katrin and our daughter Alexandra left New York and flew here to Stockholm arriving Tuesday about an hour early, gotta love tailwinds. We break up the trip to Estonia because otherwise it is so long that by the time you arrive you simply want to go into a coma for a week…So instead of medically induced sleep we opt to visit a new country each time we go and spend a couple of days, this time it’s Sweden.

Now I am going to tell you..and again, for those of you who know me you have seen Alexandra grow into a little girl when she was only a wish in her parents eyes, but boy she is a handful today.

It always takes some phsycological prep on my part before we leave, and the packing requires the skills of a NASA specialist. Somehow though, we always manage. I often am in awe of my former publisher Bill Bonner, his travel schedule makes mine look like a trip to 7-11 yet the man is always finely dressed and a mood to match. I don’t think he is flying in his own jet but he just has no signs of today’s modern air travel, it’s amazing.

So I will skip all the details but we arrived here in Stockholm and headed to our hotel, First Hotel Reisen. A lovely inn, right on the water and our room the Chapman Suite seems to have just enough space to accomodate Alexandra’s need to run. If you have never been to Europe then you need to know that typically rooms are smaller and so a suite is more like a big room wit lots of art and breakable things… SO it’s really a catch 22….Need more space but risk more breakable things, who needs reality TV when you have a 2 year old.

Ok so now after a walk around lovely Old Town here in stockholm and a fine meal, I sit down in fornt of the trading screen and see gold and silver are doing their duty. A true flight to quality, treasuries with a zero yield and the stock market tanking…Great news for our metals positions Silver in GCA and my old gold trade over in RTA which you still should have half of. I expected a pop back up but not like this… Now we took great profits on that first half and we may well on the second half too.

Now tomorrow we leave for our home in Estonia and I will be watching the markets closely and so should you. These are volatile times indeed…Use caution. Best, Kevin G’night from Sweden

p.s. I will be issuing an alert on my former gold trade in my previous publication Resource Trader Alert….Check here or if you’re a GCA member you will get an alert shortly this evening.

Now, also for you GCA members, here is some good news for our cattle position…Read on..

Form Ag Web

Beef Exports Outpace Imports – First Time Since Pre-BSE Era

9/17/2008

The U.S. beef industry achieved an important benchmark in July, as the value of beef exports for the first seven months of 2008 surpassed imports for the first time since the discovery of BSE closed most global markets to U.S. beef in December 2003, according to U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

Global beef and beef variety meat exports totaled 98,972 metric tons (218.2 million pounds) in July, valued at $363 million – increasing more than 10% over the June 2008 total, and reaching 97% of the July 2003 export value. These results pushed the total value of exports for January-July 2008 to $1.94 billion – an increase of 37 percent over last year and more than $165 million above the value of beef imports into the United States during the same period. By comparison, U.S. beef exports during the first seven months of 2007 fell nearly $700 million short of imports – which have declined by 16% from the same period a year ago.

“Regaining our status as a net value exporter of beef is an important goal of the U.S. beef industry, and a critical component of the Beef Industry Long Range Plan,” said U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) President and CEO Philip Seng. “These results represent a dramatic turnaround from a year ago, and show that we are certainly headed in the right direction.”

Mexico remains the top destination for U.S. beef, with record-high exports totaling 40,930 metric tons (90.2 million pounds) in July valued at almost $147 million. From January through July, exports to Mexico have increased by 19% in volume and 23% in value over last year. Beef exports to other top markets during this seven-month period also are running far ahead of last year’s pace, including Canada (up 37% by volume and 42% by value), Japan (up about 70% in both volume and value), Taiwan (up 37% in volume and 40% in value) and Vietnam (up 590% in volume and 769% in value).

Russia also is emerging as one of the driving forces behind the growth of beef and beef variety meat exports, with a July total of 7,649 metric tons (16.9 million pounds) valued at $17.6 million. This pushes the January-July export totals for Russia to 18,843 metric tons (41.5 million pounds) valued at $42.6 million.

Beef exports to South Korea are beginning to gain traction, totaling 1,617 metric tons (3.5 million pounds) in July, valued at $6.35 million. This is good news for cattle producers, as the Korean market reopening is having a significant impact on short rib prices. At about $2.70 per pound, short ribs are priced about 35 percent higher than a year ago. The chuck cut-out – which also is largely driven by export demand – is priced more than 25 percent higher than at this time last year.

Citing growing strength in Asian markets, USDA boosted its forecast for beef exports last week – raising its outlook for the remainder of 2008 as well as for 2009. Factoring in last week’s increase, USDA now forecasts 2008 beef exports to finish 28 percent higher than last year, and to increase by an additional 12 percent in 2009.