Two key trends bely what’s in store for meat and livestock in late 2021 and early 2022: the prices of feeder pigs and feeder cattle. As we wrote last week, demand for protein remains strong. Moreover, supplies of livestock are tightening, especially downstream to feeders. First, hogs – the relatively more straight-forward situation of the two. There has been a lot of packing capacity added in the past several years, and the herd is contracting. The last quarterly Hogs and Pigs report (WPI’s 24 June coverage here) showed the first drop in the June inventory since 2014.
Since the end of June, packers have bid less aggressively for hogs and the national negotiated price has cooled, but feeder pig prices have remained well...
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...
