Two key trends bely what’s in store for meat and livestock in late 2021 and early 2022: the prices of feeder pigs and feeder cattle. As we wrote last week, demand for protein remains strong. Moreover, supplies of livestock are tightening, especially downstream to feeders. First, hogs – the relatively more straight-forward situation of the two. There has been a lot of packing capacity added in the past several years, and the herd is contracting. The last quarterly Hogs and Pigs report (WPI’s 24 June coverage here) showed the first drop in the June inventory since 2014.
Since the end of June, packers have bid less aggressively for hogs and the national negotiated price has cooled, but feeder pig prices have remained well...
What You Need to Know Today: Markets got a surprise with a corn yield of 181.2 bushels/acre in the October WASDE, above the average estimate of 177.6 bushels/acre and up from USDA’s September estimate of 178.5 bushels/acre. Although stronger demand is expected to absorb some of the addit...
Key Takeaways: On Friday afternoon, President Trump announced that Russia will “immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel” to the United States. The deal, typical of this administration, is light on details but promises an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 m...
The USDA has lowered its 2026 red meat production forecasts slightly while forecasting a slight increase in broiler production. Beef is now projected at 24.802 billion pounds, 75 million pounds less than in September. Cow slaughter is expected to be up; however, this will be offset by lower ste...
