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: 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...
