Cattle and hog slaughter is starting to rebound as plants reopen.
Last week’s export sales reflect the state of the packing industry; net beef sales totaled 4,200 tons, down 20 percent on the week and 64 percent below the four-week average. Net pork sales totaled 10,800 tons, a decrease of 77 percent from the week before and 76 from the four-week average. Meanwhile, Congress is busy making political hay from the disarray in the markets. The House is expected to pass the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act tomorrow, aka, the fourth COVID-19 relief package. It is a $3 trillion bill and includes a doubling of direct farm payments and amends the CCC Charter Act to allow the Secretary to address remova...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
