Today’s WASDE showed red meat and poultry production down 1.1 percent from the March WASDE estimates, but still 3.3 percent higher than 2019.
Estimated pork production actually increased from the March estimates. Hogs are in the pipeline in barns and can’t be turned out to pasture; what is coming to market is coming. Plus, hogs are already running at heavy weights. The average slaughter weight so far this year is 288.7 pounds. Aside from the economic cost of feeding longer with bargain basement hogs prices, there just is not a lot of room to slow down hog marketing through heavier hogs. Broilers, of course, have about a seven-week production cycle, so production can be managed to some degree. Although slowing dow...
What You Need to Know Today: Crude oil prices extended their rally today, supported by several developments, including escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure and growing concerns about supply disruptions. The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to remove 50 perc...
Key Takeaways: The agricultural trade surplus has become a sizable deficit: the balance swung from a $40.1 billion surplus in 2011 to a $40.7 billion deficit in 2025. Imports kept growing while exports lost momentum: between 2020 and 2025, agricultural imports increased 45 percent, compa...
USDA released its October Cattle on Feed report Friday, showing 11.4 million cattle in feedlots with capacity for 1,000 head or more, slightly below last year. September placements were the lowest for the month since records began in 1996, marking the third consecutive month of placements sett...
Total Red Meat & Poultry September 2026 total red meat and poultry stocks totaled 1.97 billion pounds, down 1.4 percent from August despite typically increasing 0.8 percent during the month, and were 1.5 percent below September 2025 levels. The decline pushed total inventories to a new five...
