Going into the summer, a big question for meat has been: how will consumer demand hold up? This is especially the case with steadily increasing beef prices. The pork cutout trends show that pork demand has improved, which is a positive sign going into June and July when the cutout is at its normal seasonal high. The cutout is $16.34 or nearly 20 percent higher than it was last year, and at $98/cwt is just below this year’s peak of $100/cwt in mid-May. The five-year average for the first half of May is $92/cwt.
The cutout value is being supported by the loin, butt and picnic which have steadily increased all year. Loin values have exceeded $100/cwt, a benchmark met only two weeks in 2023. The butt value peaked last year...
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...
