With Easter retail orders mostly complete, the pork cutout, especially hams, is under pressure. From the beginning of March, the ham primal has dropped 16 percent; the only other cut with a bigger drop is the belly.
Through last week, hog slaughter was up 1.6 percent over the same 10 week period in 2022, but pork production was up only 0.9 percent due to lighter slaughter weights. This would suggest softer demand is an issue for pork given the drop in cutout values.
Hams in cold storage at the end of February were 101 percent of last year, and 108 percent of the end of January, i.e., the previous month. Bone-in hams were 105 percent of last year and 135 percent of the previous month. Bellies in cold storage at the end of Februar...
The corn and soy complex closed higher, with the wheat market mixed, as winter wheat closed up but spring wheat and livestock ended lower. Part of the strength for corn and soybeans may have been a weather premium, as crop planting has started out fast but warm weather has been slow to develop...
Real GDP grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2026, slightly below the consensus expectation of 2.3 percent but above the 0.5 percent growth in Q4 2025. The GDP number matches the average annualized pace of growth since the peak back in late 2007, right before the Financial P...
Reflect for a moment on what you eat. There is a lot of advice out there in the ether about what you should eat, but really, what do you currently eat and how much? The good people at the USDA have some data for you, to help you answer that question. USDA says that we eat quite a bit of meat. L...
