Live cattle negotiated prices in the south hit $155/cwt this week, while in the north they reached $157, and still some sellers held out for more. Negotiated dressed prices averaged $245/cwt.
Slaughter last week was down due to the Thanksgiving holiday but was still higher than the same week last year and the largest Thanksgiving week volume since 2006. Much of that was still due to cow slaughter, which will soon go into steep decline, likely adding pressure to fed cattle – especially with fewer heifers in the mix. That will be a steep drop. USDA is still forecasting beef imports for next year to be 3.35 billion pounds, down slightly from the 2022 forecast of 3.376 billion pounds. However, with lower cow slaughte...
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...
