Today’s WASDE showed USDA’s red meat and broiler production forecast up from last month reflecting a faster than expected recovery from slaughter plant shutdowns, backlogs and reconfigured operations. Slaughter was down the last week of May due to Memorial Day, but last week rebounded by more than 25 percent for both hogs and cattle. The WASDE revised last month’s total beef, pork and broilers production forecast for the year to be slightly above (0.05 percent) 2019. The 2021 forecast is 2.6 percent above the 2020 projected output.
Cattle slaughter is still 6.7 percent below last year’s pace year-to-date, but beef production is down less at 4.4 percent based on heavier weights. Total weekly cattle slaughter...
What You Need to Know Today: Russia rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, including a proposal to halt attacks on civilian shipping that could help restore grain flows from Ukrainian ports. Tyson Foods announced plans to permanently close its Joslin, Illinois, beef processing facili...
The big news in the cattle markets yesterday was Tyson Foods’ move to close two more beef plants. One of them, the Joslin, Illinois, plant was shuttered immediately after the announcement. The other, in Eagle Mountain, Utah, is a case-ready plant that does not slaughter cattle. Tyson also...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...